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O&eorg UMfjelm ifrtebrtcf) i^cgel
Photogravure from a steel engraving
THIS distinguished German philosopher was born at Stuttgart
in 1770, was educated at the University of Tubingen, occu-
pied university chairs at Jena, Heidelberg, and Berlin, and
died of cholera in 1831. His "Philosophy of History" may be
considered the greatest of his works because of the great and far-
reaching influence it has had upon European political and economic
thought.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
HISTORY
.mi-
BY
GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEI
WITH PREFACES BY
CHARLES HEGEL
AND THE TRANSLATOR
J. SIBREE, M.A.
REVISED EDITION
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" The History of the World is not intelligible apart from a
Government of the World." — W. V. HUMBOLDT
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THE COLONIAL PRESS
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
HEGEL'S Lectures on the Philosophy of History are rec-
ognized in Germany as a popular introduction to his
system; their form is less rigid than the generality
of metaphysical treatises, and the illustrations, which occupy
a. large proportion of the work, are drawn from a field of obser-
vation more familiar perhaps, than any other, to those who
have not devoted much time to metaphysical studies. One
great value of the work is that it presents the leading facts of
history from an altogether novel point of view. And when
it is considered that the writings of Hegel have exercised a
marked influence on the political movements of Germany, it will
be admitted that his theory of the universe, especially that part
which bears directly upon politics, deserves attention even from
those who are the most exclusive advocates of the " practical."
A writer who has established his claim to be regarded as an
authority, by the life which he has infused into metaphysical
abstractions, has pronounced the work before us, " one of the
pleasantest books on the subject he ever read." *
And compared with that of most German writers, even the
style may claim to be called vigorous and pointed. If therefore
in its English dress the " Philosophy of History " should be
found deficient in this respect, the fault must not be attributed
to the original.
It has been the aim of the translator to present his author
to the public in a really English form, even at the cost of a
circumlocution which must sometimes do injustice to the merits
of the original. A few words however have nee ssarily been
used in a rather unusual sense; and one of them is of very
frequent occurrence. The German " Geist," in Hegel's nomen-
clature, includes both intelligence and will, the latter even
more expressly than the former. It embraces in fact man's
*Mr. G. H. Lewes, in his Biographical History of Philosophy, Vol.
IV., Ed. 1841.
Vol. 23 A— Classics
-
iv HEGEL
entire mental and moral being, and a little reflection will make
it obvious that no term in our metaphysical vocabulary could
have been well substituted for the more theological one,
" Spirit," as a fair equivalent. It is indeed only the impersonal
and abstract use of the term that is open to objection ; an objec-
tion which can be met by an appeal to the best classical usage ;
viz. the rendering of the Hebrew rni and Greek irvevfia in the
authorized version of the Scriptures. One indisputable in-
stance may suffice in confirmation : " Their horses [i.e. of the
Egyptians] are flesh and not spirit." (Isaiah xxxi. 3.) It is
pertinent to remark here, that the comparative disuse of this
term in English metaphysical literature, is one result of that
alienation of theology from philosophy with which continental
writers of the most opposite schools agree in taxing the specu-
lative genius of Britain — an alienation which mainly accounts
for the gulf separating English from German speculation, and
which will, it is feared, on other accounts also be the occasion
of communicating a somewhat uninviting aspect to the follow-
ing pages.
The distinction which the Germans make between " Sittlich-
keit " and " Moralitat," has presented another difficulty. The
former denotes conventional morality, the latter that of the
heart or conscience. Where no ambiguity was likely to arise,
both terms have been translated " morality." In other cases
a stricter rendering has been given, modified by the require-
ments of the context. The word " moment " is, as readers of
German philosophy are aware, a veritable crux to the translator.
In Mr. J. R. Morell's very valuable edition of Johnson's Trans-
lation of Tennemann's " Manual of the History of Philosophy,"
the following explanation is given : " This term was bor-
rowed from mechanics by Hegel (see his " Wissenschaft der
Logik," Vol. 3, P. 104, Ed. 1841). He employs it to de-
note the contending forces which are mutually dependent,
and whose contradiction forms an equation. Hence his
formula, Esse = Nothing. Here Esse and Nothing are mo-
mentums, giving birth to Werden, i.e. Existence. Thus the
momentum contributes to the same oneness of operation in con-
tradictory forces that we see in mechanics, amidst contrast and
diversity, in weight and distance, in the case of the balance."
But in several parts of the work before us this definition is not
strictly adhered to, and the translator believes he has done
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION v
justice to the original in rendering the word by " successive "
or " organic phase." In the chapter on the Crusades another
term occurs which could not be simply rendered into English.
The definite, positive, and present embodiment of essential
being is there spoken of as " ein Dieses," " das Dieses," etc.,
literally " a This," " the This," for which repulsive combination
a periphrasis has been substituted, which, it is believed, is not
only accurate but expository. Paraphrastic additions, however,
have been, in fairness to the reader, enclosed in brackets [ ] ;
and the philosophical appropriation of ordinary terms is gen-
erally indicated by capitals, e.g. " Spirit," " Freedom," " State,"
" Nature," etc.
The limits of a brief preface preclude, an attempt to explain
the Hegelian method in its wider applications ; and such an
undertaking is rendered altogether unnecessary by the facilities
which are afforded by works so very accessible as the transla-
tion of Tennemann above mentioned, Chalybseus's " Historical
Development of Speculative Philosophy, from Kant to Hegel,"
Blakey's " History of the Philosophy of Mind," Mr. Lewes's
" Biographical History of Philosophy," besides treatises de-
voted more particularly to the Hegelian philosophy. Among these
latter may be fairly mentioned the work of a French professor,
M. Vera, " Introduction a la Philosophic de Hegel," a lucid and
earnest exposition of the system at large ; and the very able
summary of Hegel's " Philosophy of Right," by T. C. Sandars,
late fellow of Oriel College, which forms one of the series of
" Oxford Essays " for 1855, an d which bears directly on the
subject of the present volume.
It may, nevertheless, be of some service to the reader to indi-
cate the point of view from which this " Philosophy of History "
is composed, and to explain the leading idea.
The aim and scope of that civilizing process which all hopeful
thinkers recognize in history, is the attainment of Rational
Freedom. But the very term freedom supposes a previous
bondage ; and "the question naturally arises : " Bondage to
what? " — A superficial inquirer may be satisfied with an answer
referring it to the physical power of the ruling body. Such a
response was deemed satisfactory by a large number of political
speculators in the last century, and even at the beginning of
the present; and it is one of the great merits of an influential
thinker of our days to have expelled this idolum fori, which
vi HEGEL
had also become an idolum theatri, from its undue position ;
and to have revived the simple truth that all stable organizations
of men, all religious and political communities, are based upon
principles which are far beyond the control of the One or the
Many. And in these principles or some phase of them every
man in every clime and age is born, lives and moves. The
only question is : Whence are those principles derived ? Whence
spring those primary beliefs or superstitions, religious and polit-
ical, that hold society together? They are no inventions of
" priestcraft " or " kingcraft," for to them priestcraft and king-
craft owe their power. They are no results of a Contrat Social,
for with them society originates. Nor are they the mere sug-
gestions of man's weakness, prompting him to propitiate the
powers of nature, in furtherance of his finite, earthborn desires.
Some of the phenomena of the religious systems that have pre-
vailed in the world might seem thus explicable ; but the Nihil-
ism of more than one Oriental creed, the suicidal strivings of
the Hindoo devotee to become absorbed in a divinity recognized
as a pure negation, cannot be reduced to so gross a formula ;
while the political superstition that ascribes a divine right to
the feebleness of a woman or an infant is altogether untouched
by it. Nothing is left therefore but to recognize them as " fan-
cies," " delusions," " dreams," the results of man's vain imagi-
nation — to class them with the other absurdities with which the
abortive past of humanity is by some thought to be only too
replete ; or, on the other hand, to regard them as the rudimen
tary teachings of that essential intelligence in which man's
intellectual and moral life originates. With Hegel they are the
objective manifestation of infinite reason — the first promptings
of Him who having " made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on the face of the earth, hath determined the times be-
fore appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, if haply they
might feel after and find him " — tov yhp ical <yei>os tafiev. And
it is these icaipoi irpoTeTcuyp.kvoi,, these determined and organic
epochs in the history of the world that Hegel proposes to dis-
tinguish and develop in the following treatise.
Whatever view may be entertained as to the origin or impor-
tance of those elementary principles, and by whatever general
name they may be called — Spontaneous, Primary, or Objective
Intelligence — it seems demonstrable that it is in some sense or
other to its own belief, its own reason or essential being, that
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION vii
imperfect humanity is in bondage; while the perfection of
social existence is commonly regarded as a deliverance from
that bondage. In the Hegelian system, this paradoxical condi-
tion is regarded as one phase of that antithesis which is pre-
sented in all spheres of existence, between the subjective and
the objective, but which it is the result of the natural and intel-
lectual processes that constitute the life of the universe, to annul
by merging into one absolute existence. And however startling
this theory may be as applied to other departments of nature
and intelligence, it appears to be no unreasonable formula for
the course of civilization, and which is substantially as follows :
In less cultivated nations, political and moral restrictions are
looked upon as objectively posited ; the constitution of society,
like the world of natural objects, is regarded as something into
which a man is inevitably born ; and the individual feels himself
bound to comply with requirements of whose justice or pro-
priety he is not allowed to judge, though they often severely test
his endurance, and even demand the sacrifice of his life. In
a state of high civilization, on the contrary, though an equal
self-sacrifice be called for, it is in respect of laws and institutions
which are felt to be just and desirable. This change of relation
may, without any very extraordinary use of terms, or extrava-
gance of speculative conceit, be designated the harmonization
or reconciliation of objective and subjective intelligence. The
successive phases which humanity has assumed in passing from
that primitive state of bondage to this condition of rational
freedom form the chief subject of the following lectures.
The mental and moral condition of individuals and their social
and religious conditions (the subjective and objective mani-
festations of reason) exhibit a strict correspondence with each
other in every grade of progress. " They that make them are
like unto them," is as true of religious and political ideas as
of religious and political idols. Where man sets no value on
that part of his mental and moral life which makes him superior
to the brutes, brute life will be an object of worship and bestial
sensuality will be the genius of the ritual. Where mere inaction
is the finis bonorum, absorption in nothingness will be the aim
of the devotee. Where, on the contrary, active and vigorous
virtue is recognized as constituting the real value of man —
where subjective spirit has learned to assert its own freedom,
both against irrational and unjust requirements from without,
viii HEGEL
and caprice, passion, and sensuality, from within, it will demand
a living, acting, just, and holy, embodiment of Deity as the only
possible object of its adoration. In the same degree, political
principles also will be affected. Where mere nature predomi-
nates, no legal relations will be acknowledged but those based
on natural distinction ; rights will be inexorably associated with
" caste." Where, on the other hand, spirit has attained its
freedom, it will require a code of laws and political constitu-
tion, in which the rational subordination of nature to reason
that prevails in its own being, and the strength it feels to resist
sensual seductions shall be distinctly mirrored.
Between the lowest and highest grades of intelligence and
will, there are several intervening stages, around which a com-
plex of derivative ideas, and of institutions, arts, and sciences,
in harmony with them, are aggregated. Each of these aggre-
gates has acquired a name in history as a distinct nationality.
Where the distinctive principle is losing its vigor, as the result
of the expansive force of mind of which it was only the tempo-
rary embodiment, the national life declines, and we have the
transition to a higher grade, in which a comparatively abstract
and limited phase of subjective intelligence and will — to which
corresponds an equally imperfect phase of objective reason —
is exchanged for one more concrete, and vigorous — one which
develops human capabilities more freely and fully, and in which
right is more adequately comprehended.
The goal of this contention is, as already indicated, the self-
realization, the complete development of spirit, whose proper
nature is freedom — freedom in both senses of the term, i.e. lib-
eration from outward control — inasmuch as the law to which it
submits has its own explicit sanction — and emancipation from
the inward slavery of lust and passion.
The above remarks are not designed to afford anything like
a complete or systematic analysis of Hegel's " Philosophy of
History," but simply to indicate its leading conception, and if
possible to contribute something towards removing a prejudice
against it on the score of its resolving facts into mystical para-
doxes, or attempting to construe them a priori. In applying
the theory, some facts may not improbably have been distorted,
some brought into undue prominence, and others altogether
neglected. In the most cautious and limited analysis of the
past, failures and perversions of this kind are inevitable : and
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION ix
a comprehensive view of history is proportionately open to
mistake. But it is another question whether the principles ap-
plied in this work to explain the course which civilization has
followed, are a correct inference from historical facts, and
afford a reliable clue to the explanation of their leading aspects.
The translator would remark, in conclusion, that the " In-
troduction " will probably be found the most tedious and diffi-
cult part of the treatise ; he would therefore suggest a cursory
reading of it in the first instance, and a second perusal as a
resume of principles which are more completely illustrated in
the body of the work.
J. Sibree.
CHARLES HEGEL'S PREFACE
THE changed form in which Hegel's lectures on the Phi-
losophy of History are re-issued, suggests the necessity
of some explanation respecting the relation of this sec-
ond edition both to the original materials from which the work
was compiled, and to their first publication.
The lamented Professor Gans, the editor of the " Philosophy
of History," displayed a talented ingenuity in transforming
lectures into a book; in doing so he followed for the most
part Hegel's latest deliveries of the course, because they were
the most popular, and appeared most adapted to his object.
He succeeded in presenting the lectures much as they were
delivered in the winter of 1830-31 ; and this result might be
regarded as perfectly satisfactory, if Hegel's various readings
of the course had been more uniform and concordant, if indeed
they had not rather been of such a nature as to supplement each
other. For however great may have been Hegel's power of con-
densing the wide extent of the phenomenal world by thought,
it was impossible for him entirely to master and to present in a
uniform shape the immeasurable material of history in the
course of one semester. In the first delivery in the winter of
1822-23, he was chiefly occupied with unfolding the philosoph-
ical idea, and showing how this constitutes the real kernel of
history, and the impelling soul of world-historical peoples.
In proceeding to treat of China and India, he wished, as he said
himself, only to show by example how philosophy ought to
comprehend the character of a nation ; and this could be done
more easily in the case of the stationary nations of the East,
than in that of peoples which have a bond fide history and a
historical development of character. A warm predilection made
him linger long with the Greeks, for whom he always felt a
youthful enthusiasm; and after a brief consideration of the
Roman World he endeavored finally to condense the Mediaeval
Period and the Modern Time into a few lectures; for time
xi
xii HEGEL
pressed, and when, as in the Christian World, the thought no
longer lies concealed among the multitude of phenomena, but
announces itself and is obviously present in history, the philos-
opher is at liberty to abridge his discussion of it ; in fact, nothing
more is needed than to indicate the impelling idea. In the
later readings, on the other hand, China, India, and the East
generally were more speedily despatched, and more time and
attention devoted to the German World. By degrees the philo-
sophical and abstract occupied less space, the historical matter
was expanded, and the whole became more popular.
It is easy to see how the different readings of the course
supplement each other, and how the entire substance cannot
be gathered without uniting the philosophical element which
predominates in the earlier, and which must constitute the basis
of the work, with the historical expansion which characterizes
the latest deliveries.
Had Hegel pursued the plan which most professors adopt, in
adapting notes for use in the lecture room, of merely appending
emendations and additions to the original draught, it would be
correct to suppose that his latest readings would be also the
most matured. But as, on the contrary, every delivery was with
him a new act of thought, each gives only the expression of that
degree of philosophical energy which animates his mind at the
time; thus, in fact, the two first deliveries of 1822-23 and 1824-
25, exhibit a far more comprehensive vigor of idea and ex-
pression, a far richer store of striking thoughts and appropriate
images, than those of later date ; for that first inspiration which
accompanied the thoughts when they first sprang into existence,
could only lose its living freshness by repetition.
From what has been said, the nature of the task which a
new edition involved is sufficiently manifest. A treasury of
thought of no trifling value had to be recovered from the first
readings, and the tone of originality restored to the whole. The
printed text therefore was made the basis, and the work of
inserting, supplementing, substituting, and transforming (as
the case seemed to require), was undertaken with the greatest
possible respect for the original. No scope was left for the
individual views of the editor, since in all such alterations
Hegel's manuscripts were the sole guide. For while the first
publication of these lectures — a part of the introduction ex-
cepted — followed the notes of the hearers only, the second edi-
PREFACE xiii
tion has endeavored to supplement it by making Hegel's own
manuscripts the basis throughout, and using the notes only for
the purpose of rectification and arrangement. The editor has
striven after uniformity of tone through the whole work simply
by allowing the author to speak everywhere in his own words ;
so that not only are the new insertions taken verbatim from the
manuscripts, but even where the printed text was retained in
the main, peculiar expressions which the hearer had lost in
transcription, were restored.
For the benefit of those who place vigor of thought in a for-
mal schematism, and with polemical zeal assert its exclusive
claim against other styles of philosophizing, the remark may
be added that Hegel adhered so little to the subdivisions which
he had adopted, that he made some alterations in them on occa-
sion of every reading of the course — treated Buddhism and
Lamaism, e.g., sometimes before, sometimes after India, some-
times reduced the Christian World more closely to the German
nations, sometimes took in the Byzantine Empire, and so on.
The new edition has had but few alterations to make in this
respect.
When the association for publishing Hegel's works did me
the honor to intrust me with the re-editing of my father's
" Philosophy of History," it also named as advocates of the
claims of the first edition, and as representatives of Professor
Gans, who had been removed from its circle by death, three of
its members, Geh. Ober-Regierungs Rath Dr. Schulze, Professor
von Henning, and Professor Hotho, to whose revision the work
in its new shape was to be submitted. In this revision, I not
only enjoyed the acquiescence of those most estimable men and
valued friends in the alterations I had made, but also owe them
a debt of thanks for many new emendations, which I take the
opportunity of thus publicly discharging.
In conclusion, I feel constrained to acknowledge that my
gratitude to that highly respected association for the praise-
worthy deed of love to science, friendship, and disinterested-
ness, whose prosecution originated it and still holds it together,
could be increased only by the fact of its having granted me also
a share in editing the works of my beloved father.
Charles Hegel.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PAGE
I. Original History I
II. Reflective History 4
III. Philosophical History 8
Geographical Basis of History 79
Classification of Historic Data 103
PART I.— The Oriental World
Principle of the Oriental World in
Section I. China 116
Section II. India 139
Section II. Continued. India — Buddhism 167
Section III. Persia 173
Chapter I. The Zend People 176
Chapter II. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Per-
sians 182
Chapter III. The Persian Empire and its Constituent Parts. . . . 187
Persia 188
Syria and Semitic Western Asia 191
Judaea 195
Egypt 198
Transition to the Greek World 219
PART II.— The Greek World
The Region of Spirit 223
Section I. The Elements of the Greek Spirit 225
Section II. Phases of Individuality iEsthetically Conditioned.. 241
Chapter I. The Subjective Work of Art 241
Chapter II. The Objective Work of Art 244
Chapter III. The Political Work of Art 250
The War with the Persians 256
Athens 258
Sparta 262
The Peloponnesian War 265
The Macedonian Empire 271
Section III. 'Fall of the Greek Spirit 275
xv
xvi HEGEL
PART III.— The Roman World
PAGB
Distinction between the Roman, Persian, and Greek Principle 278
Section I. Rome to the Time of the Second Punic War 283
Chapter I. The Elements of the Roman Spirit 283
Chapter II. History of Rome to the Second Punic War 296
Section II. Rome from the Second Punic War to the Emperors . 306
Section III. Chapter I. Rome under the Emperors 314
Chapter II. Christianity 318
Chapter III. The Byzantine Empire 336
PART IV.— The German World
The Principle of Spiritual Freedom 341
Section I. The Elements of the Christian German World 347
Chapter I. The Barbarian Migrations 347
Chapter II. Mahometanism 355
Chapter III. The Empire of Charlemagne 360
Section II. The Middle Ages 366
Chapter I. The Feudality and the Hierarchy 366
Chapter II. The Crusade 389
Chapter III. The Transition from Feudalism to Monarchy 398
Section III. The Modern Time 412
Chapter I. The Reformation 412
Chapter II. Influence of the Reformation on Political Develop-
ment 427
Chapter III. The Eclair cissement and Revolution 438
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
INTRODUCTION
THE subject of this course of Lectures is the Philosophical
History of the World. And by this must be understood,
not a collection of general observations respecting it,
suggested by the study of its records, and proposed to be illus-
trated by its facts, but Universal History itself.* To gain a
clear idea, at the outset, of the nature of our task, it seems
necessary to begin with an examination of the other methods
of treating History. The various methods may be ranged
under three heads :
I. Original Histopy.
II. Reflective History.
III. Philosophical History.
I. Of the first kind, the mention of one or two distinguished
names will furnish a definite type. To this category belong
Herodotus, Thucydides, and other historians of the same order,
whose descriptions are for the most part limited to deeds, events,
and states of society, which they had before their eyes, and
whose spirit they shared. They simply transferred what was
passing in the world around them, to the realm of representa-
tive intellect. An external phenomenon is thus translated into
an internal conception. In the same way the poet operates upon
the material supplied him by his emotions; projecting it into
an image for the conceptive faculty. These original historians
did, it is true, find statements and narratives of other men ready
to hand. One person cannot be an eye or ear witness of every-
thing. But they make use of such aids only as the poet does
of that heritage of an already-formed language, to which he
owes so much ; merely as an ingredient. Historiographers
* I cannot mention any work that will a Universal History as it is proposed to
serve as a compendium of the course, develop, and a syllabus of the chief ele-
but I may remark that in my " Outlines ments or periods into which it naturally
of the Philosophy of Law," §§ 341-360, I divides itself.
have already given a definition of such
t PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
bind together the fleeting elements of story, and treasure them
up for immortality in the Temple of Mnemosyne. Legends,
Ballad-stories, Traditions, must be excluded from such original
history. These are but dim and hazy forms of historical ap-
prehension, and therefore belong to nations whose intelligence
is but half awakened. Here, on the contrary, we have to do with
people fully conscious of what they were and what they were
about. The domain of reality — actually seen, or capable of
being so — affords a very different basis in point of firmness
from that fugitive and shadowy element, in which were engen-
dered those legends and poetic dreams whose historical prestige
vanishes, as soon as nations have attained a mature individ-
uality.
Such original historians, then, change the events, the deeds,
and the states of society with which they are conversant, into
an object for the conceptive faculty. The narratives they
leave us cannot, therefore, be very comprehensive in their range.
Herodotus, Thucydides, Guicciardini, may be taken as fair
samples of the class in this respect. What is present and living
in their environment is their proper material. The influences
that have formed the writer are identical with those which have
moulded the events that constitute the matter of his story. The
author's spirit, and that of the actions he narrates, is one and
the same. He describes scenes in which he himself has been an
actor, or at any rate an interested spectator. It is short periods
of time, individual shapes of persons and occurrences, single,
unreflected traits, of which he makes his picture. And his aim
is nothing more than the presentation to posterity of an image
of events as clear as that which he himself possessed in virtue
of personal observation, or life-like descriptions. Reflections
are none of his business, for he lives in the spirit of his subject ;
he has not attained an elevation above it. If, as in Caesar's case,
he belongs to the exalted rank of generals or statesmen, it is
the prosecution of his own aims that constitutes the history.
Such speeches as we find in Thucydides (for example) of
which we can positively assert that they are not bona fide re-
ports, would seem to make against out statement that a historian
of his class presents us no reflected picture; that persons and
people appear in his works in propria persona. Speeches, it
must be allowed, are veritable transactions in the human com-
monwealth; in fact, very gravely influential transactions. It
INTRODUCTION 3
is, indeed, often said, " Such and such things are only talk ; "
by way of demonstrating their harmlessness. That for which
this excuse is brought may be mere " talk " ; and talk enjoys
the important privilege of being harmless. But addresses of
peoples to peoples, or orations directed to nations and to princes,
are integrant constituents of history. Granted that such ora-
tions as those of Pericles — that most profoundly accomplished,
genuine, noble statesman — were elaborated by Thucydides, it
must yet be maintained that they were not foreign to the char-
acter of the speaker. In the orations in question, these men
proclaim the maxims adopted by their countrymen, and which
formed their own character; they record their views of their
political relations, and of their moral and spiritual nature ; and
the principles of their designs and conduct. What the historian
puts into their mouths is no supposititious system of ideas, but
an uncorrupted transcript of their intellectual and moral habi-
tudes.
Of these historians, whom we must make thoroughly our
own, with whom we must linger long, if we would live with
their respective nations, and enter deeply into their spirit: of
these historians, to whose pages we may turn not for the pur-
poses of erudition merely, but with a view to deep and genuine
enjoyment, there are fewer than might be imagined. Herod-
otus the Father, i.e., the Founder of History, and Thucydides
have been already mentioned. Xenophon's Retreat of the Ten
Thousand, is a work equally original. Caesar's Commentaries
are the simple masterpiece of a mighty spirit. Among the
ancients, these annalists were necessarily great captains and
statesmen. In the Middle Ages, if we except the Bishops, who
were placed in the very centre of the political world, the Monks
monopolize this category as naive chroniclers who were as de-
cidedly isolated from active life as those elder annalists had
been connected with it. In modern times the relations are en-
tirely altered. Our culture is essentially comprehensive, and
immediately changes all events into historical representations.
Belonging to the class in question, we have vivid, simple, clear
narrations — especially of military transactions — which might
fairly take their place with those of Caesar. In richness of
matter and fulness of detail as regards strategic appliances,
and attendant circumstances, they are even more instructive.
The French " Memoires," also, fall under this category. In
4 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
many cases these are written by men of mark, though relating
to affairs of little note. They not unfrequently contain a large
proportion of anecdotal matter, so that the ground they oc-
cupy is narrow and trivial. Yet they are often veritable master-
pieces in history ; as those of Cardinal de Retz, which in fact
trench on a larger historical field. In Germany such masters
are rare. Frederick the Great (" Histoire de Mon Temps ") is
an illustrious exception. Writers of this order must occupy
an elevated position. Onlv from such a position is it possible
to take an extensive view of affairs — -to see everything. This
is out of the question for him, who from below merely gets
a glimpse of the great world through a miserable cranny.
II. The second kind of history we may call the reflective.
It is history whose mode of representation is not really con-
fined by the limits of the time to which it relates, but whose
spirit transcends the present. In this second order a strongly
marked variety of species may be distinguished.
i. It is the aim of the investigator to gain a view of the
entire history of a people or a country, or of the world, in
short, what we call Universal History. In this case the work-
ing up of the historical material is the main point. The work-
man approaches his task with his own 'spirit ; a spirit distinct
from that of the element he is to manipulate. Here a very
important consideration will be the principles to which the au-
thor refers the bearing and motives of the actions and events
which he describes, and those which determine the form of his
narrative. Among us Germans this reflective treatment and
the display of ingenuity which it occasions assume a manifold
variety of phases. Every writer of history proposes to himself
an original method. The English and French confess to gen-
eral principles of historical composition. Their standpoint is
more that of cosmopolitan or of national culture. Among us
each labors to invent a purely individual point of view. Instead
of writing history, we are always beating our brains to discover
how history ought to be written. This first kind of Reflective
History is most nearly akin to the preceding, when it has no
farther aim than to present the annals of a country complete.
Such compilations (among which may be reckoned the works
of Livy, Diodorus Siculus, Johannes von Miiller's History of
Switzerland) are, if well performed, highly meritorious.
Among the best of the kind may be reckoned such annalists
INTRODUCTION 5
as approach those of the first class ; who give so vivid a tran-
script of events that the reader may well fancy himself lis-
tening to contemporaries and eye-witnesses. But it often hap-
pens that the individuality of tone which must characterize a
writer belonging to a different culture is not modified in
accordance with the periods such a record must traverse. The
spirit of the writer is quite other than that of the times of
which he treats. Thus Livy puts into the mouths of the old
Roman kings, consuls, and generals such orations as would
be delivered by an accomplished advocate of the Livian era,
and which strikingly contrast with the genuine traditions of
Roman antiquity (e. g. the fable of Menenius Agrippa). In
the same way he gives us descriptions of battles, as if he had
been an actual spectator; but whose features would serve
well enough for battles in any period, and whose distinctness
contrasts on the other hand with the want of connection and
the inconsistency that prevail elsewhere, even in his treatment
of chief points of interest. The difference between such a
compiler and an original historian may be best seen by com-
paring Polybius himself with the style in which Livy uses,
expands, and abridges his annals in those periods of which
Polybius's account has been preserved. Johannes von Muller
has given a stiff, formal, pedantic aspect to his history, in the
endeavor to remain faithful in his portraiture to the times
he describes. We much prefer the narratives we find in old
Tschudy. All is more naive and natural than it appears in
the garb of a fictitious and affected archaism.
A history which aspires to traverse long periods of time,
or to be universal, must indeed forego the attempt to give in-
dividual representations of the past as it actually existed. It
must foreshorten its pictures by abstractions ; and this includes
not merely the omission of events and deeds, but whatever is
involved in the fact that Thought is, after all, the most trench-
ant epitomist. A battle, a great victory, a siege, no longer
maintains its original proportions, but is put off with a bare
mention. When Livy, e.g., tells us of the wars with the Volsci,
we sometimes have the brief announcement : " This year war
was carried on with the Volsci."
2. A second species of Reflective History is what we may
call the Pragmatical. When we have to deal with the Past,
and occupy ourselves with a remote world, a Present rises
6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
into being for the mind — produced by its own activity, as the
reward of its labor. The occurrences are, indeed, various;
but the idea which pervades them — their deeper import and
connection — is one. This takes the occurrence out of the cate-
gory of the Past and makes it virtually Present. Pragmatical
(didactic) reflections, though in their nature decidedly ab-
stract, are truly and indefeasibly of the Present, and quicken
the annals of the dead Past with the life of to-day. Whether,
indeed, such reflections are truly interesting and enlivening,
depends on the writer's own spirit. Moral reflections must
here be specially noticed — the moral teaching expected from
history; which latter has not infrequently been treated with
a direct view to the former. It may be allowed that examples
of virtue elevate the soul, and are applicable in the moral in-
struction of children for impressing excellence upon their
minds. But the destinies of peoples and states, their interests,
relations, and the complicated tissue of their affairs, present
quite another field. Rulers, Statesmen, Nations, are wont to
be emphatically commended to the teaching which experience
offers in history. But what experience and history teach is
this — that peoples and governments never have learned any-
thing from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.
Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, ex-
hibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its
conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with
itself, and itself alone. Amid the pressure of great events, a
general principle gives no help. It is useless to revert to simi-
lar circumstances in the Past. The pallid shades of memory
struggle in vain with the life and freedom of the Present.
Looked at in this light, nothing can be shallower than the oft-
repeated appeal to Greek and Roman examples during the
French Revolution. Nothing is more diverse than the genius
of those nations and that of our times. Johannes v. Muller,
in his " Universal History," as also in his " History of Switz-
erland," had such moral aims in view. He designed to pre-
pare a body of political doctrines for the instruction of princes,
governments, and peoples (he formed a special collection of
doctrines and reflections — frequently giving us in his cor-
respondence the exact number of apophthegms which he had
compiled in a week) ; but he cannot reckon this part of his
labor as among the best that he accomplished. It is only a
INTRODUCTION 7
thorough, liberal, comprehensive view of historical relations
(such e.g. as we find in Montesquieu's " Esprit des Lois ")
that can give truth and interest to reflections of this order.
One Reflective History, therefore, supersedes another. The
materials are patent to every writer: each is likely enough to
believe himself capable of arranging and manipulating them;
and we may expect that each will insist upon his own spirit
as that of the age in question. Disgusted by such reflective
histories, readers have often returned with pleasure to a nar-
rative adopting no particular point of view. These certainly
have their value ; but for the most part they offer only material
for history. We Germans are content with such. The French,
on the other hand, display great genius in reanimating bygone
times, and in bringing the past to bear upon the present con-
dition of things.
3. The third form of Reflective History is the Critical. This
deserves mention as pre-eminently the mode of treating his-
tory now current in Germany. It is not history itself that is
here presented. We might more properly designate it as a
History of History ; a criticism of historical narratives and an
investigation of their truth and credibility. Its peculiarity in
point of fact and of intention, consists in the acuteness with
which the writer extorts something from the records which
was not in the matters recorded. The French have given us
much that is profound and judicious in this class of composi-
tion. But they have not endeavored to pass a merely critical
procedure for substantial history. They have duly presented
their judgments in the form of critical treatises. Among us,
the so-called " higher criticism," which reigns supreme in the
domain of philology, has also taken possession of our historical
literature. This " higher criticism " has been the pretext for
introducing all the anti-historical monstrosities that a vain im-
agination could suggest. Here we have the other method of
making the past a living reality; putting subjective fancies in
the place of historical data; fancies whose merit is measured
by their boldness, that is, the scantiness of the particulars on
which they are based, and the peremptoriness with which they
contravene the best established facts of history.
4. The last species of Reflective History announces its frag-
mentary character on the very face of it. It adopts an abstract
position; yet, since it takes general points of view (e.g. as the
8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
History of Art, of Law, of Religion), it forms a transition
to the Philosophical History of the World. In our time this
form of the history of ideas has been more developed and
brought into notice. Such branches of national life stand in
close relation to the entire complex of a people's annals; and
the question of chief importance in relation to our subject is,
whether the connection of the whole is exhibited in its truth
and reality, or referred to merely external relations. In the
latter case, these important phenomena (Art, Law, Religion,
etc.) appear as purely accidental national peculiarities. It
must be remarked that, when Reflective History has advanced
to the adoption of general points of view, if the position taken
is a true one, these are found to constitute — not a merely ex-
ternal thread, a superficial series — but are the inward guiding
soul of the occurrences and actions that occupy a nation's
annals. For, like the soul-conductor Mercury, the Idea is in
truth, the leader of peoples and of the World ; and Spirit, the
rational and necessitated will of that conductor, is and has
been the director of the events of the World's History. To
become acquainted with Spirit in this its office of guidance,
is the object of our present undertaking. This brings us to
III. The third kind of history — the Philosophical. No ex-
planation was needed of the two previous classes ; their nature
was self-evident. It is otherwise with this last, which cer-
tainly seems to require an exposition or justification. The
most general definition that can be given, is, that the Philosophy
of History means nothing but the thoughtful consideration of
it. Thought is, indeed, essential to humanity. It is this that
distinguishes us from the brutes. In sensation, cognition, and
intellection; in our instincts and volitions, as far as they are
truly human, Thought is an invariable element. To insist upon
Thought in this connection with history may, however, appear
unsatisfactory. In this science it would seem as if Thought
must be subordinate to what is given, to the realities of fact;
that this is its basis and guide : while Philosophy dwells in the
region of self-produced ideas, without reference to actuality.
Approaching history thus prepossessed, Speculation might be
expected to treat it as a mere passive material ; and, so far
from leaving it in its native truth, to force it into conformity
with a tyrannous idea, and to construe it, as the phrase is, " d
priori" But as it is the business of history simply to adopt
INTRODUCTION 9
into its records what is and has been — actual occurrences and
transactions ; and since it remains true to its character in pro-
portion as it strictly adheres to its data, we seem to have in
Philosophy, a process diametrically opposed to that of the his-
toriographer. This contradiction, and the charge consequently
brought against speculation, shall be explained and confuted.
We do not, however, propose to correct the innumerable special
misrepresentations, trite or novel, that are current respecting
the aims, the interests, and the modes of treating history, and
its relation to Philosophy.
The only Thought which Philosophy brings with it to the
contemplation of History, is the simple conception of Reason;
that Reason is the Sovereign of the World; that the history
of the world, therefore, presents us with a rational process.
This conviction and intuition is a hypothesis in the domain of
history as such. In that of Philosophy it is no hypothesis. It is
there proved by speculative cognition, that Reason — and this
term may here suffice us, without investigating the relation sus-
tained by the Universe to the Divine Being — is Substance, as
well as Infinite Power; its own Infinite Material underlying
all the natural and spiritual life which it originates, as also the
Infinite Form — that which sets this Material in motion. On
the one hand, Reason is the substance of the Universe; viz.,
that by which and in which all reality has its being and sub-
sistence. On the other hand, it is the Infinite Energy of the
Universe ; since Reason is not so powerless as to be incapable
of producing anything but a mere ideal, a mere intention —
having its place outside reality, nobody knows where; some-
thing separate and abstract, in the heads of certain human
beings. It is the infinite complex of things, their entire Essence
and Truth. It is its own material which it commits to its own
Active Energy to work up ; not needing, as finite action does,
the conditions of an external material of given means from
which it may obtain its support, and the objects of its activity.
It supplies its own nourishment, and is the object of its own
operations. While it is exclusively its own basis of existence,
and absolute final aim, it is also the energizing power realiz-
ing this aim ; developing it not only in the phenomena of the
Natural, but also of the Spiritual Universe — the History of
the World. That this " Idea " or " Reason " is the True, the
Eternal, the absolutely powerful essence ; that it reveals itself
io PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in the World, and that in that World nothing else is revealed
but this and its honor and glory — is the thesis which, as we
have said, has been proved in Philosophy, and is here regarded
as demonstrated.
In those of my hearers who are not acquainted with Philos-
ophy, I may fairly presume, at least, the existence of a belief
in Reason, a desire, a thirst for acquaintance with it, in enter-
ing upon this course of Lectures. It is, in fact, the wish for
rational insight, not the ambition to amass a mere heap of
acquirements, that should be presupposed in every case as pos-
sessing the mind of the learner in the study of science. If the
clear idea of Reason is not already developed in our minds, in
beginning the study of Universal History, we should at least
have the firm, unconquerable faith that Reason does exist there ;
and that the World of intelligence and conscious volition is not
abandoned to chance, but must show itself in the light of the
self-cognizant Idea. Yet I am not obliged to make any such
preliminary demand upon your faith. What I have said thus
provisionally, and what I shall have further to say, is, even in
reference to our branch of science, not to be regarded as hypo-
thetical, but as a summary view of the whole ; the result of the
investigation we are about to pursue ; a result which happens
to be known to me, because I have traversed the entire field.
It is only an inference from the history of the World, that its
development has been a rational process; that the history in
question has constituted the rational necessary course of the
World-Spirit — that Spirit whose nature is always one and the
same, but which unfolds this its one nature in the phenomena
of the World's existence. This must, as before stated, pre-
sent itself as the ultimate result of History. But we have to
take the latter as it is. We must proceed historically — em-
pirically. Among other precautions we must take care not
to be misled by professed historians who (especially among the
Germans, and enjoying a considerable authority), are charge-
able with the very procedure of which they accuse the Philos-
opher — introducing a priori inventions of their own into the
records of the Past. It is, for example, a widely current fiction,
that there was an original primeval people, taught immediately
by God, endowed with perfect insight and wisdom, possessing
a thorough knowledge of all natural laws and spiritual truth ;
that there have been such or such sacerdotal peoples; or, to
INTRODUCTION II
mention a more specific averment, that there was a Roman
Epos, from which the Roman historians derived the early an-
nals of their city, etc. Authorities of this kind we leave to
those talented historians by profession, among whom (in Ger-
many at least) their use is not uncommon. — We might then
announce it as the first condition to be observed, that we should
faithfully adopt all that is historical. But in such general ex-
pressions themselves, as " faithfully " and " adopt," lies the
ambiguity. Even the ordinary, the " impartial " historiog-
rapher, who believes and professes that he maintains a simply
receptive attitude; surrendering himself only to the data sup-
plied him — is by no means passive as regards the exercise of
his thinking powers. He brings his categories with him, and
sees the phenomena presented to his mental vision, exclusively
through these media. And, especially in all that pretends to
the name of science, it is indispensable that Reason should not
sleep — that reflection should be in full play. To him who
looks upon the world rationally, the world in its turn presents
a rational aspect. The relation is mutual. But the various
exercises of reflection — the different points of view— the modes
of deciding the simple question of the relative importance of
events (the first category that occupies the attention of the
historian), do not belong to this place.
I will only mention two phases and points of view that con-
cern the generally diffused conviction that Reason has ruled,
and is still ruling in the world, and consequently in the world's
history ; because they give us, at the same time, an opportunity
for more closely investigating the question that presents the
greatest difficulty, and for indicating a branch of the subject,
which will have to be enlarged on in the sequel.
I. One of these points is, that passage in history, which in-
forms us that the Greek Anaxagoras was the first to enunciate
the doctrine that vovs, Understanding generally, or Reason,
governs the world. It is not intelligence as self-conscious Rea-
son — not a Spirit as such that is meant; and we must clearly
distinguish these from each other. The movement of the solar
system takes place according to unchangeable laws. These
laws are Reason, implicit in the phenomena in question. But
neither the sun nor the planets, which revolve around it ac-
cording to these laws, can be said to have any consciousness
of them,
Vol. 23 B— Classics
12 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY;
A thought of this kind — that Nature is an embodiment of
Reason ; that it is unchangeably subordinate to universal laws,
appears nowise striking or strange to us. We are accustomed
to such conceptions, and find nothing extraordinary in them.
And I have mentioned this extraordinary occurrence, partly
to show how history teaches, that ideas of this kind, which
may seem trivial to us, have not always been in the world;
that, on the contrary, such a thought makes an epoch in the
annals of human intelligence. Aristotle says of Anaxagoras,
as the originator of the thought in question, that he appeared
as a sober man among the drunken. Socrates adopted the
doctrine from Anaxagoras, and it forthwith became the ruling
idea in Philosophy— except in the school of Epicurus, who
ascribed all events to chance. " I was delighted with the sen-
timent " — Plato makes Socrates say — " and hoped I had found
a teacher who would show me Nature in harmony with Rea-
son, who would demonstrate in each particular phenomenon
its specific aim, and in the whole, the grand object of the Uni-
verse. I would not have surrendered this hope for a great deal.
But how very much was I disappointed, when, having zealously
applied myself to the writings of Anaxagoras, I found that he
adduces only external causes, such as Atmosphere, Ether,
Water, and the like." It is evident that the defect which
Socrates complains of respecting Anaxagoras's doctrine, does
not concern the principle itself, but the shortcoming of the
propounder in applying it to Nature in the concrete. Nature
is not deduced from that principle: the latter remains in fact
a mere abstraction, inasmuch as the former is not compre-
hended and exhibited as a development of it — an organization
produced by and from Reason. I wish, at the very outset, to
call your attention to the important difference between a con-
ception, a principle, a truth limited to an abstract form and its
determinate application, and concrete development. This dis-
tinction affects the whole fabric of philosophy; and among
other bearings of it there is one to which we shall have to re-
vert at the close of our view of Universal History, in investigat-
ing the aspect of political affairs in the most recent period.
We have next to notice the rise of this idea — that Reason
directs the World — in connection with a further application
of it, well known to us — in the form, viz., of the religious truth,
that the world is not abandoned to chgnce and external con-
INTRODUCTION
13
tingent causes, but that a Providence controls it. I stated above,
that I would not make a demand on your faith, in regard to the
principle announced. Yet I might appeal to your belief in it,
in this religious aspect, if, as a general rule, the nature of philo-
sophical science allowed it to attach authority to presupposi-
tions. To put it in another shape — this appeal is forbidden,
because the science of which we have to treat, proposes itself
to furnish the proof (not indeed of the abstract Truth of the
doctrine, but) of its correctness as compared with facts. The
truth, then, that a Providence (that of God) presides over the
events of the World — consorts with the proposition in question ;
for Divine Providence is Wisdom, endowed with an infinite
Power, which realizes its aim, viz., the absolute rational design
of the World. Reason , is Thought conditioning itself with
perfect freedom. But a difference — rather a contradiction —
will manifest itself, between this belief and our principle, just
as was the case in reference to the demand made by Socrates
in the case of Anaxagoras's dictum. For that belief is simi-
larly indefinite ; it is what is called a belief in a general Provi-
dence, and is not followed out into definite application, or dis-
played in its bearing on the grand total — the entire course of
human history. But to explain History is to depict the pas-
sions of mankind, the genius, the active powers, that play their
part on the great stage ; and the providentially determined
process which these exhibit, constitutes what is generally called
the " plan " of Providence. Yet it is this very plan which
is supposed to be concealed from our view : which it is deemed
presumption, even to wish to recognize. The ignorance of
Anaxagoras, as to how intelligence reveals itself in actual
existence, was ingenuous. Neither in his consciousness, nor
in that of Greece at large, had that thought been farther ex-
panded. He had not attained the power to apply his general
principle to the concrete, so as to deduce the latter from the
former. It was Socrates who took the first step in compre-
hending the union of the Concrete with the Universal. Anax-
agoras, then, did not take up a hostile position toward such an
application. The common belief in Providence does; at least
it opposes the use of the principle on the large scale, and denies
the possibility of discerning the plan of Providence. In isolated
cases this plan is supposed to be manifest. Pious persons are
encouraged to recognize in particular circumstances, something
i 4 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
more than mere chance; to acknowledge the guiding hand of
God; e.g., when help has unexpectedly come to an individual
in great perplexity and need. But these instances of provi-
dential design are of a limited kind, and concern the accom-
plishment of nothing more than the desires of the individual
in question. But in the history of the World, the Individuals
\vg. have to do with are Peoples; Totalities that are States.
We cannot, therefore, be satisfied with what we may call this
" peddling " view of Providence, to which the belief alluded to
limits itself. Equally unsatisfactory is the merely abstract,
undefined belief in a Providence, when that belief is not brought
to bear upon the details of the process which it conducts. On
the contrary our earnest endeavor must be directed to the rec-
ognition of the ways of Providence, the means it uses, and the
historical phenomena in which it manifests itself; and we must
show their connection with the general principle above men-
tioned. But in noticing the recognition of the plan of Divine
Providence generally, I have implicitly touched upon a promi-
nent question of the day ; viz., that of the possibility of know-
ing God: or rather — since public opinion has ceased to allow
it to be a matter of question — the doctrine that it is impossible
to know God. In direct contravention of what is commanded
in holy Scripture as the highest duty — that we should not
merely love, but know God — the prevalent dogma involves the
denial .of what is there said; viz., that it is the Spirit (der
Geist) that leads into Truth, knows all things, penetrates even
into the deep things of the Godhead. While the Divine Being
is thus placed beyond our knowledge, and outside the limit of
all human things, we have the convenient license of wandering
as far as we list, in the direction of our own fancies. We are
freed from the obligation to refer our knowledge to the Divine
and True. On the other hand, the vanity and egotism which
characterize it find, in this false position, ample justification;
and the pious modesty which puts far from it the knowledge
of God can well estimate how much furtherance thereby ac-
crues to its own wayward and vain strivings. I have been
unwilling to leave out of sight the connection between our
thesis — that Reason governs and has governed the World —
and the question of the possibility of a knowledge of God,
chiefly that I might not lose the opportunity of mentioning the
imputation against Philosophy of being shy of noticing re-
INTRODUCTION 15
Iigious truths, or of having occasion to be so; in which is
insinuated the suspicion that it has anything but a clear con-
science in the presence of these truths. So far from this being
the case, the fact is, that in recent times Philosophy has been
obliged to defend the domain of religion against the attacks
of several theological systems. In the Christian religion God
has revealed Himself — that is, he has given us to understand
what He is; so that He is no longer a concealed or secret
existence. And this possibility of knowing Him, thus afforded
us, renders such knowledge a duty. God wishes no narrow-
hearted souls or empty heads for his children ; but those whose
spirit is of itself indeed poor, but rich in the knowledge of
Him ; and who regard this knowledge of God as the only valu-
able possession. That development of the thinking spirit
which has resulted from the revelation of the Divine Being as
its original basis must ultimately advance to the intellectual
comprehension of what was presented in the first instance, to
feeling and imagination. The time must eventually come for
understanding that rich product of active Reason, which the
History of the World offers to us. It was for awhile the fash-
ion to profess admiration for the wisdom of God as displayed
in animals, plants, and isolated occurrences. But, if it be al-
lowed that Providence manifests itself in such objects and
forms of existence, why not also in Universal History? This
is deemed too great a matter to be thus regarded. But Divine
Wisdom, i.e., Reason, is one and the same in the great as in the
little ; and we must not imagine God to be too weak to exercise
his wisdom on the grand scale. Our intellectual striving aims
at realizing the conviction that what was intended by eternal
wisdom, is actually accomplished in the domain of existent,
active Spirit, as well as in that of mere Nature. Our mode
of treating the subject is, in this aspect, a Theodicsea — a justifi-
cation of the ways of God — which Leibnitz attempted meta-
physically, in his method, i.e., in indefinite abstract categories — ■
so that the ill that is found in the World may be comprehended,
and the thinking Spirit reconciled with the fact of the existence
of evil. Indeed, nowhere is such a harmonizing view more
pressingly demanded than in Universal History; and it can
be attained only by recognizing the positive existence, in which
that negative element is a subordinate, and vanquished nullity.
On the one hand, the ultimate design of the World must be
16 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
perceived; and, on the other hand, the fact that this design
has been actually realized in it, and that evil has not been
able permanently to assert a competing position. But this
superintending vovs, or in " Providence." " Reason," whose
sovereignty over the World has been maintained, is as indefi-
nite a term as " Providence," supposing the term to be used
by those who are unable to characterize it distinctly — to show
wherein it consists, so as to enable us to decide whether a
thing is rational or irrational. An adequate definition of Rea-
son is the first desideratum ; and whatever boast may be made
of strict adherence to it in explaining phenomena — without
such a definition we get no farther than mere words. With
these observations we may proceed to the second point of view
that has to be considered in this Introduction.
II. The inquiry into the essential destiny of Reason — as far
as it is considered in reference to the World — is identical with
the question, what is the ultimate design of the World? And
the expression implies that that design is destined to be real-
ized. Two points of consideration suggest themselves; first,
the import of this design — its abstract definition ; and secondly,
its realisation.
It must be observed at the outset, that the phenomenon we
investigate — Universal History — belongs to the realm of Spirit.
The term " World/' includes both physical and psychical Nat-
ure. Physical Nature also plays its part in the World's His-
tory, and attention will have to be paid to the fundamental
natural relations thus involved. But Spirit, and the course of
its development, is our substantial object. Our task does not
require us to contemplate Nature as a Rational System in itself
— though in its own proper domain it proves itself such — but
simply in its relation to Spirit. On the stage on which we are
observing it — Universal History — Spirit displays itself in its
most concrete reality. Notwithstanding this (or rather for the
very purpose of comprehending the general principles which
this, its form of concrete reality, embodies) we must premise
some abstract characteristics of the nature of Spirit. Such an
explanation, however, cannot be given here under any other
form than that of bare assertion. The present is not the occa-
sion for unfolding the idea of Spirit speculatively ; for what-
ever has a place in an Introduction, must, as already observed,
be taken as simply historical; something assumed as having
INTRODUCTION 17
been explained and proved elsewhere ; or whose demonstration
awaits the sequel of the Science of History itself.
We have therefore to mention here :
( 1 ) The abstract characteristics of the nature of Spirit.
(2) What means Spirit uses in order to realize its Idea.
(3) Lastly, we must consider the shape which the per-
fect embodiment of Spirit assumes — the State.
(1) The nature of Spirit may be understood by a glance
at its direct opposite — Matter. As the essence of Matter is
Gravity, so, on the other hand, we may affirm that the substance,
the essence of Spirit is Freedom. All will readily assent to
the doctrine that Spirit, among other properties, is also en-
dowed with Freedom ; but philosophy teaches that all the qual-
ities of Spirit exist only through Freedom; that all are but
means for attaining Freedom; that all seek and produce this
and this alone. It is a result of speculative Philosophy that
Freedom is the sole truth of Spirit. Matter possesses gravity
in virtue of its tendency toward a central point. It is essen-
tially composite; consisting of parts that exclude each other.
It seeks its Unity; and therefore exhibits itself as self-de-
structive, as verging toward its opposite [an indivisible point].
If it could attain this, it would be Matter no longer, it would
have perished. It strives after the realization of its Idea;
for in Unity it exists ideally. Spirit, on the contrary, may be
denned as that which has its centre in itself. It has not a
unity outside itself, but has already found it ; it exists in and
with itself. Matter has its essence out of itself ; Spirit is self-
contained existence (Bei-sich-selbst-seyn). Now this is Free-
dom, exactly. For if I am dependent, my being is referred to
something else which I am not ; I cannot exist independently
of something external. I am free, on the contrary, when my
existence depends upon myself. This self-contained existence
of Spirit is none other than self-consciousness — consciousness
of one's own being. Two things must be distinguished in con-
sciousness ; first, the fact that I know; secondly, what I know.
In self consciousness these are merged in one ; for Spirit knows
itself. It involves an appreciation of its own nature, as also
an energy enabling it to realize itself; to make itself actually
that which it is potentially. According to this abstract defini-
tion it may be said of Universal History, that it is the exhibi-
tion of Spirit in the process of working out the knowledge of
18 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
that which it is potentially. And as the germ bears in itself
the whole nature of the tree, and the taste and form of its
fruits, so do the first traces of Spirit virtually contain the whole
of that History. The Orientals have not attained the knowl-
edge that Spirit — Man as such — is free ; and because they
do not know this, they are not free. They only know that
one is free. But on this very account, the freedom of that one
is only caprice; ferocity — brutal recklessness of passion, or
a mildness and tameness of the desires, which is itself only
an accident of Nature — mere caprice like the former. — That
one is therefore only a Despot ; not a free man. The conscious-
ness of Freedom first arose among the Greeks, and therefore
they were free ; but they, and the Romans likewise, knew only
that some are free — not man as such. Even Plato and Aris-
totle did not know this. The Greeks, therefore, had slaves;
and their whole life and the maintenance of their splendid lib-
erty, was implicated with the institution of slavery: a fact
moreover, which made that liberty on the one hand only an
accidental, transient and limited growth; on the other hand,
constituted it a rigorous thraldom of our common nature — of
the Human. The German nations, under the influence of Chris-
tianity, were the first to attain the consciousness that man, as
man, is free : that it is the freedom of Spirit which constitutes
its essence. This consciousness arose first in religion, the in-
most region of Spirit; but to introduce the principle into the
various relations of the actual world involves a more extensive
problem than its simple implantation; a problem whose solu-
tion and application require a severe and lengthened process
of culture. In proof of this, we may note that slavery did not
cease immediately on the reception of Christianity. Still less
did liberty predominate in States ; or Governments and Consti-
tutions adopt a rational organization, or recognize freedom
as their basis. That application of the principle to political re-
lations ; the thorough moulding and interpenetration of the
constitution of society by it, is a process identical with history
itself. I have already directed attention to the distinction here
involved, between a principle as such, and its application; i.e.,
its introduction and carrying out in the actual phenomena of
Spirit and Life. This is a point of fundamental importance
in our science, and one which must be constantly respected as
essential. And in the same way as this distinction has at-
INTRODUCTION 19
tracted attention in view of the Christian principle of self-con-
sciousness — Freedom; it also shows itself as an essential one,
in view of the principle of Freedom generally. The History of
the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness
of Freedom; a progress whose development according to the
necessity of its nature, it is our business to investigate.
The general statement given above, of the various grades in
the consciousness of Freedom — and which we applied in the
first instance to the fact that the Eastern nations knew only
that one is free; the Greek and Roman world only that some
are free ; while we know that all men absolutely (man as man)
are free — supplies us with the natural division of Universal
History, and suggests the mode of its discussion. This is
remarked, however, only incidentally and anticipatively ; some
other ideas must be first explained.
The destiny of the spiritual World, and — since this is the
substantial World, while the physical remains subordinate to
it, or, in the language of speculation, has no truth as against
the spiritual — the final cause of the World at large, we allege
to be the consciousness of its own freedom on the part of Spirit,
and ipso facto, the reality of that freedom. But that this term
" Freedom," without further qualification, is an indefinite, and
incalculable ambiguous term; and that while that which it
represents is the ne plus ultra of attainment, it is liable to an
infinity of misunderstandings, confusions and errors, and to
become the occasion for all imaginable excesses — has never
been more clearly known and felt than in modern, times. Yet,
for the present, we must content ourselves with the term itself
without farther definition. Attention was also directed to the
importance of the infinite difference between a principle in the
abstract, and its realization in the concrete. In the process
before us, the essential nature of freedom — which involves in
it absolute necessity — is to be displayed as coming to a con-
sciousness of itself (for it is in its very nature, self-conscious-
ness) and thereby realizing its existence. Itself is its own
object of attainment, and the sole aim of Spirit. This result
it is, at which the process of the World's History has been con-
tinually aiming : and to which the sacrifices that have ever and
anon been laid on the vast altar of the earth, through the long
lapse of ages, have been offered. This is the only aim that sees
itself realized and fulfilled; the only pole of repose amid the
2o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ceaseless change of events and conditions, and the sole efficient
principle that pervades them. This final aim is God's purpose
with the world ; but God is the absolutely perfect Being, and
can, therefore, will nothing other than himself — his own Will.
The Nature of His Will — that is, His Nature itself — is what
we here call the Idea of Freedom ; translating the language of
Religion into that of Thought. The question, then, which we
may next put is : What means does this principle of Freedom
use for its realization? This is the second point we have to
consider.
(2) The question of the means by which Freedom develops
itself to a World, conducts us to the phenomenon of History
itself. Although Freedom is, primarily, an undeveloped idea,
the means it uses are external and phenomenal ; presenting
themselves in History to our sensuous vision. The first glance
at History convinces us that the actions of men proceed from
their needs, their passions, their characters and talents; and
impresses us with the belief that such needs, passions and in-
terests are the sole springs of action — the efficient agents in
this scene of activity. Among these may, perhaps, be found
aims of a liberal or universal kind — benevolence it may be, or
noble patriotism ; but such virtues and general views are but
insignificant as compared with the World and its doings. We
may perhaps see the Ideal of Reason actualized in those who
adopt such aims, and within the sphere of their influence ; but
they bear only a trifling proportion to the mass of the human
race ; and the extent of that influence is limited accordingly.
Passions, private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires,
are on the other hand, most effective springs of action. Their
power lies in the fact that they respect none of the limitations
which justice and morality would impose on them; and that
these natural impulses have a more direct influence over man
than the artificial and tedious discipline that tends to order and
self-restraint, law and morality. When we look at this display
of passions, and the consequences of their violence; the Un-
reason which is associated not only with them, but even (rather
we might say especially) with good designs and righteous aims ;
when we see the evil, the vice, the ruin that has befallen the
most flourishing kingdoms which the mind of man ever created ;
we can scarce avoid being filled with sorrow at thfs universal
taint of corruption: and, since this decay is not the work of
INTRODUCTION 21
mere Nature, but of the Human Will — a moral embitterment —
a revolt of the Good Spirit (if it have a place within us) may
well be the result of our reflections. Without rhetorical ex-
aggeration, a simply truthful combination of the miseries that
have overwhelmed the noblest of nations and polities, and the
finest exemplars of private virtue — forms a picture of most
fearful aspect, and excites emotions of the profoundest and
most hopeless sadness, counterbalanced by no consolatory re-
sult. We endure in beholding it a mental torture, allowing
no defence or escape but the consideration that what has hap-
pened could not be otherwise; that it is a fatality which no
intervention could alter. And at last we draw back from the
intolerable disgust with which these sorrowful reflections
threaten us, into the more agreeable environment of our indi-
vidual life — the Present formed by our private aims and in-
terests. In short we retreat into the selfishness that stands on
the quiet shore, and thence enjoys in safety the distant spectacle
of " wrecks confusedly hurled." But even regarding History
as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the
wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been vic-
timized — the question involuntarily arises — to what principle,
to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.
From this point the investigation usually proceeds to that
which we have made the general commencement of our in-
quiry. Starting from this we pointed out those phenomena
which made up a picture so suggestive of gloomy emotions
and thoughtful reflections — as the very Held which we, for our
part, regard as exhibiting only the means for realizing what
we assert to be the essential destiny — the absolute aim, or —
which comes to the same thing — the true result of the World's
History. We have all along purposely eschewed " moral re-
flections " as a method of rising from the scene of historical
specialties to the general principles which they embody. Be-
sides, it is, not the interest of such sentimentalities, really to
rise above those depressing emotions ; and to solve the enigmas
of Providence which the considerations that occasioned them,
present. It is essential to their character to find a gloomy sat-
isfaction in the empty and fruitless sublimities of that negative
result. We return them to the point of view which we have
adopted; observing that the successive steps (momente) of
the analysis to which it will lead us, will also evolve the con-
22 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ditions requisite for answering the inquiries suggested by the
panorama of sin and suffering that history unfolds.
The first remark we have to make, and which — though al-
ready presented more than once — cannot be too often repeated
when the occasion seems to call for it — is that what we call
principle, aim, destiny, or the nature and idea of Spirit, is some-
thing merely general and abstract. Principle — Plan of Exist-
ence — Law — is a hidden, undeveloped essence, which as such
— however true in itself — is not completely real. Aims, prin-
ciples, etc., have a place in our thoughts, in our subjective design
only; but not yet in the sphere of reality. That which exists
for itself only, is a possibility, a potentiality; but has not yet
emerged into Existence. A second element must be introduced
in order to produce actuality — viz., actuation, realization; and
whose motive power is the Will — the activity of man in the
widest sense. It is only by this activity that that Idea as well
as abstract characteristics generally, are realized, actualized;
for of themselves they are powerless. The motive power that
puts them in operation, and gives them determinate existence,
is the need*, instinct, inclination, and passion of man. That
some conception of mine should be developed into act and
existence, is my earnest desire : I wish to assert my personality
ji connection with it: I wish to be satisfied by its execution.
If I am to exert myself for any object, it must in some way
or other be my object. In the accomplishment of such or such
designs I must at the same time find my satisfaction ; although
the purpose for which I exert myself includes a complication
of results, many of which have no interest for me. This is the
absolute right of personal existence — to find itself satisfied in
its activity and labor. If men are to interest themselves for
anything, they must (so to speak) have part of their existence
involved in it ; find their individuality gratified by its attain-
ment. Here a mistake must be avoided. We intend blame, and
justly impute it as a fault, when we say of an individual, that
he is " interested " (in taking part in such or such transactions) .
that is, seeks only his private advantage. In reprehending
this we find fault with him for furthering his personal aims
without any regard to a more comprehensive design ; of which
he takes advantage to promote his own interest, or which he
even sacrifices with this view. But he who is active in pro-
moting an object is not simply " interested," but interested in
INTRODUCTION 23
that object itself. Language faithfully expresses this distinc-
tion. — Nothing therefore happens, nothing is accomplished,
unless the individuals concerned, seek their own satisfaction
in the issue. They are particular units of society; i.e., they
have special needs, instincts, and interests generally, peculiar
to themselves. Among these needs are not only such as we
usually call necessities — the stimuli of individual desire and
volition — but also those connected with individual views and
convictions; or — to use a term expressing less decision — lean-
ings of opinion; supposing the impulses of reflection, under-
standing, and reason, to have been awakened. In these cases
people demand, if they are to exert themselves in any direction,
that the object should commend itself to them; that in point
of opinion — whether as to its goodness, justice, advantage,
profit — they should be able to "enter into it" (dabei seyn).
This is a consideration of especial importance in our age, when
people are less than formerly influenced by reliance on others,
and by authority; when, on the contrary, they devote their
activities to a cause on the ground of their own understanding,
their independent conviction and opinion.
We assert then that nothing has been accomplished without
interest on the part of the actors ; and — if interest be called
passion, inasmuch as the whole individuality, to the neglect
of all other actual or possible interests and claims, is devoted
to an object with every fibre of volition, concentrating all its
desires and powers upon it — we may affirm absolutely that
nothing great in the World has been accomplished without
passion. Two elements, therefore, enter into the object of our
investigation; the first the Idea, the second the complex of
human passions; the one the warp, the other the woof of the
vast arras-web of Universal History. The concrete mean and
union of the two is Liberty, under the conditions of morality
m a State. We have spoken of the Idea of Freedom as the
nature of Spirit, and the absolute goal of History. Passion
is regarded as a thing of sinister aspect, as more or less im-
moral. Man is required to have no passions. Passion, it is
true, is not quite the suitable word for what I wish to express.
I mean here nothing more than the human activity as resulting
from private interests — special, or if you will, self-seeking de-
signs — with this qualification, that the whole energy of will
and character is devoted to their attainment; that other in-
24 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
terests (which would in themselves constitute attractive aims)
or rather all things else, are sacrificed to them. The object in
question is so bound up with the man's will, that it entirely
and alone determines the " hue of resolution," and is insepa-
rable from it. It has become the very essence of his volition.
For a person is a specific existence ; not man in general (a term
to which no real existence corresponds) but a particular human
being. The term " character " likewise expresses this idiosyn-
crasy of Will and Intelligence. But Character comprehends
all peculiarities whatever ; the way in which a person conducts
himself in private relations, etc., and is not limited to his
idiosyncrasy in its practical and active phase. I shall, there-
fore, use the term " passions " ; understanding thereby the
particular bent of character, as far as the peculiarities of voli-
tion are not limited to private interest, but supply the impelling
and actuating force for accomplishing deeds shared in by the
community at large. Passion is in the first instance the sub-
jective, and therefore the formal side of energy, will, and ac-
tivity — leaving the object or aim still undetermined. And there
is a similar relation of formality to reality in merely individual
conviction, individual views, individual conscience. It is always
a question of essential importance, what is the purport of my
conviction, what the object of my passion, in deciding whether
the one or the other is of a true and substantial nature. Con-
versely, if it is so, it will inevitably attain actual existence —
be realized.
From this comment on the second essential element in the
historical embodiment of an aim, we infer — glancing at the
institution of the State in passing — that a State is then well
constituted and internally powerful, when the private interest
of its citizens is one with the common interest of the State;
when the one finds its gratification and realization in the other
— a proposition in itself very important. But in a State many
institutions must be adopted, much political machinery invented,
accompanied by appropriate political arrangements — necessi-
tating long struggles of the understanding before what is really
appropriate can be discovered — involving, moreover, conten-
tions with private interest and passions, and a tedious discipline
of these latter, in order to bring about the desired harmony.
The epoch when a State attains this harmonious conditon,
marks the period of its bloom, its virtue, its vigor, and its pros-
INTRODUCTION 25
perity. But the history of mankind does not begin with a con-
scious aim of any kind, as it is the case with the particular circles
into which men form themselves of set purpose. The mere
social instinct implies a conscious purpose of security for life
and property; and when society has been constituted, this
purpose becomes more comprehensive. The History of the
World begins with its general aim — the realization of the Idea
of Spirit — only in an implicit form (an sich) that is, as Nature;
a hidden, most profoundly hidden, unconscious instinct; and
the whole process of History (as already observed), is directed
to rendering this unconscious impulse a conscious one. Thus
appearing in the form of merely natural existence, natural will
— that which has been called the subjective side — physical
craving, instinct, passion, private interest, as also opinion and
subjective conception — spontaneously present themselves at the
very commencement. This vast congeries of volitions, interests
and activities, constitute the instruments and means of the
World- Spirit for attaining its object; bringing it to conscious-
ness, and realizing it. And this aim is none other than finding
itself — coming to itself — and contemplating itself in concrete
actuality. But that those manifestations of vitality on the part
of individuals and peoples, in which they seek and satisfy their
own purposes, are, at the same time, the means and instru-
ments of a higher and broader purpose of which they know
nothing — which they realize unconsciously — might be made
a matter of question ; rather has been questioned, and in every
variety of form negatived, decried and ^contemned as mere
dreaming and " Philosophy." But on this point I announced
my view at the very outset, and asserted our hypothesis — which,
however, will appear in the sequel, in the form of a legitimate
inference — and our belief that Reason governs the world, and
has consequently governed its history. In relation to this in-
dependently universal and substantial existence — all else is sub-
ordinate, subservient to it, and the means for its development.
— The Union of Universal Abstract Existence generally with
the Individual — the Subjective — that this alone is Truth, be-
longs to the department of speculation, and is treated in this
general form in Logic. — But in the process of the World's
History itself — as still incomplete — the abstract final aim of
history is not yet made the distinct object of desire and interest.
While these limited sentiments are still unconscious of the pur-
2 6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
pose they are fulfilling, the universal principle is implicit in
them, and is realizing itself through them. The question also
assumes the form of the union of Freedom and Necessity; the
latent abstract process of Spirit being regarded as Necessity,
while that which exhibits itself in the conscious will of men, as
their interest, belongs to the domain of Freedom. As the meta-
physical connection {i.e., the connection in the Idea) of these
forms of thought, belongs to Logic, it would be out of place
to analyze it here. The chief and cardinal points only shall be
mentioned.
Philosophy shows that the Idea advances to an infinite an-
tithesis ; that, viz., between the Idea in its free, universal form
— in which it exists for itself — and the contrasted form of ab-
stract introversion, reflection on itself, which is formal exist-
ence-for-self, personality, formal freedom, such as belongs to
Spirit only. The universal Idea exists thus as the substantial
totality of things on the one side, and as the abstract essence
of free volition on the other side. This reflection of the mind
on itself is individual self-consciousness — the polar opposite
of the Idea in its general form, and therefore existing in abso-
lute Limitation. This polar opposite is consequently limitation,
particularization, for the universal absolute being; it is the
side of its definite existence; the sphere of its formal reality,
the sphere of the reverencj oaid to God. — To comprehend the
absolute connection of this antithesis, is the profound task of
metaphysics. This Limitation originates all forms of particu-
larity of whatever kind. The formal volition (of which we
have spoken) wills itself ; desires to make its own personality
valid in all that it purposes and does : even the pious individual
wishes to be saved and happy. This pole of the antithesis, ex-
isting for itself, is — in contrast with the Absolute Universal
Being — a special separate existence, taking cognizance of spe-
cialty only, and willing that alone. In short it plays its part in
the region of mere phenomena. This is the sphere of particular
purposes, in effecting which individuals exert themselves on
behalf of their individuality — give it full play and objective
realization. This is also the sphere of happiness and its oppo-
site. He is happy who finds his condition suited to his special
character, will, and fancy, and so enjoys himself in that condi-
tion. The History of the World is not the theatre of happiness.
Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods
INTRODUCTION 27
of harmony — periods when the antithesis is in abeyance. Re-
flection on self — the Freedom above described — is abstractly
defined as the formal element of the activity of the absolute
Idea. The realizing activity of which we have spoken is the
middle term of the Syllogism, one of whose extremes is the
Universal essence, the Idea, which reposes in the penetralia
of Spirit ; and the other, the complex of external things —
objective matter. That activity is the medium by which the
universal latent principle is translated into the domain of ob-
jectivity.
I will endeavor to make what has been said more vivid and
clear by examples.
The building of a house is, in the first instance, a subjective
aim and design. On the other hand we have, as means, the
several substances required for the work — Iron, Wood, Stones.
The elements are made use of in working up this material:
fire to melt the iron, wind to blow the fire, water to set wheels
in motion, in order to cut the wood, etc. The result is, that the
wind, which has helped to build the house, is shut out by the
house; so also are the violence of rains and floods, and the
destructive powers of fire, so far as the house is made fire-
proof. The stones and beams obey the law of gravity — press
downward — and so high walls are carried up. Thus the ele-
ments are made use of in accordance with their nature, and yet
to co-operate for a product, by which their operation is limited.
Thus the passions of men are gratified ; they develop them-
selves and their aims in accordance with their natural tenden-
cies, and build up the edifice of human society; thus fortifying
a position for Right and Order against themselves.
The connection of events above indicated, involves also the
fact, that in history an additional result is commonly produced
by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain —
that which they immediately recognize and desire. They grat-
ify their own interest ; but something further is thereby ac-
complished, latent in the actions in question, though not present
to their consciousness, and not included in their design. An
analogous example is offered in the case of a man who, from
a feeling of revenge — perhaps not an unjust one, but produced
by injury on the other's part — burns that other man's house. A
connection is immediately established between the deed itself
and a train of circumstances not directly included in it, taken
a8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
abstractedly. In itself it consisted in merely presenting a small
flame to a small portion of a beam. Events not involved in that
simple act follow of themselves. The part of the beam which
was set fire to is connected with its remote portions ; the beam
itself is united with the woodwork of the house generally, and
this with other houses; so that a wide conflagration ensues,
which destroys the goods and chattels of many other persons
besides his against whom the act of revenge was first directed ;
perhaps even costs not a few men their lives. This lay neither
in the deed abstractedly, nor in the design of the man who com-
mitted it. But the action has a further general bearing. In
the design of the doer it was only revenge executed against
an individual in the destruction of his property, but it is more-
over a crime, and that involves punishment also. This may
not have been present to the mind of the perpetrator, still less
in his intention; but his deed itself, the general principles it
calls into play, its substantial content entails it. By this ex-
ample I wish only to impress on you the consideration, that in
a simple act, something further may be implicated than lies in
the intention and consciousness of the agent. The example
before us involves, however, this additional consideration, that
the substance of the act, consequently we may say the act itself,
recoils upon the perpetrator — reacts upon him with destructive
tendency. This union of the two extremes — the embodiment
of a general idea in the form of direct reality, and the elevation
of a speciality into connection with universal truth — is brought
to pass, at first sight, under the conditions of an utter diversity
of nature between the two, and an indifference of the one ex-
treme towards the other. The aims which the agents set before
them are limited and special ; but it must be remarked that the
agents themselves are intelligent thinking beings. The purport
of their desires is interwoven with general, essential considera-
tions of justice, good, duty, etc. ; for mere desire — volition in
its rough and savage forms — falls not within the scene and
sphere of Universal History. Those general considerations,
which form at the same time a norm for directing aims and
actions, have a determinate purport; for such an abstraction
as " good for its own sake," has no place in living reality. If
men are to act, they must not only intend the Good, but must
have decided for themselves whether this or that particular
thing is a Good. What special course of action, however, is
INTRODUCTION
29
good or not, is determined, as regards the ordinary contingen-
cies of private life, by the laws and customs of a State; and
here no great difficulty is presented. Each individual has his
position; he knows on the whole what a just, honorable course
of conduct is. As to ordinary, private relations, the assertion
that it is difficult to choose the right and good — the regarding
it as the mark of an exalted morality to find difficulties and
raise scruples on that score — may be set down to an evil or
perverse will, which seeks to evade duties not in themselves
of a perplexing nature; or, at any rate, to an idly reflective
habit of mind — where a feeble will affords no sufficient exercise
to the faculties — leaving them therefore to find occupation with-
in themselves, and to expend themselves on moral self-adu-
lation.
It is quite otherwise with the comprehensive relations that
History has to do with. In this sphere are presented those
momentous collisions between existing, acknowledged duties,
laws, and rights, and those contingencies which are adverse
to this fixed system ; which assail and even destroy its founda-
tions and existence ; whose tenor may nevertheless seem good
— on the large scale advantageous — yes, even indispensable and
necessary. These contingencies realize themselves in History:
they involve a general principle of a different order from that
on which depends the permanence of a people or a State. This
principle is an essential phase in the development of the creat-
ing Idea, of Truth striving and urging towards (consciousness
of) itself. Historical men — World-Historical Individuals — are
those in whose aims such a general principle lies.
Caesar, in danger of losing a position, not perhaps at that
time of superiority, yet at least of equality with the others who
were at the head of the State, and of succumbing to those who
were just on the point of becoming his enemies — belongs es-
sentially to this category. These enemies — who were at the
same time pursuing their personal aims — had the form of the
constitution, and the power conferred by an appearance of jus-
tice, on their side. Caesar was contending for the maintenance
of his position, honor, and safety ; and, since the power of his
opponents included the sovereignty over the provinces of the
Roman Empire, his victory secured for him the conquest ofr
that entire Empire ; and he thus became — though leaving the
form of the constitution — the Autocrat of the State. That
3 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
which secured for him the execution of a design, which in the
first instance was of negative import — the Autocracy of Rome
— was, however, at the same time an independently necessary
feature in the history of Rome and of the world. It was not,
then, his private gain merely, but an unconscious impulse that
occasioned the accomplishment of that for which the time was
ripe. Such are all great historical men — whose own partic-
ular aims involve those large issues which are the will of the
World-Spirit. They may be called Heroes, inasmuch as they
have derived their purposes and their vocation, not from the
calm, regular course of things, sanctioned by the existing
order; but from a concealed fount — one which has not at-
tained to phenomenal, present existence — from that inner
Spirit, still hidden beneath the surface, which, impinging on
the outer world as on a shell, bursts it in pieces, because it is
another kernel than that which belonged to the shell in ques-
tion. They are men, therefore, who appear to draw the im-
pulse of their life from themselves ; and whose deeds have
produced a condition of things and a complex of historical
relations which appear to be only their interest, and their work.
Such individuals had no consciousness of the general Idea
they were unfolding, while prosecuting those aims of theirs ;
on the contrary, they were practical, political men. But at the
same time they were thinking men, who had an insight into
the requirements of the time — what was ripe for development.
This was the very Truth for their age, for their world ; the
species next in order, so to speak, and which was already
formed in the womb of time. It was theirs to know this nas-
cent principle ; the necessary, directly sequent step in progress,
which their world was to take ; to make this their aim, and to
expend their energy in promoting it. World-historical men —
the Heroes of an epoch — must, therefore, be recognized as its
clear-sighted ones ; their deeds, their words are the best of that
time. Great men have formed purposes to satisfy themselves,
not others. Whatever prudent designs and counsels they
might have learned from others, would be the more limited and
inconsistent features in their career ; for it was they who best
understood affairs; from whom others learned, and approved,
or at least acquiesced in — their policy. For that Spirit which
had taken this fresh step in history is the inmost soul of all in-
dividuals ; but in a state of unconsciousness which the great
INTRODUCTION
31
men in question aroused. Their fellows, therefore, follow these
soul-leaders ; for they feel the irresistible power of their own
inner Spirit thus embodied. If we go on to cast a look at the
fate of these World-Historical persons, whose vocation it was
to be the agents of the World-Spirit — we shall find it to have
been no happy one. They attained no calm enjoyment ; their
whole life was labor and trouble; their whole nature was
nought else but their master-passion. When their object is
attained they fall off like empty hulls from the kernel. They
die early, like Alexander; they are murdered, like Csesar;
transported to St. Helena, like Napoleon. This fearful con-
solation — that historical men have not enjoyed what is called
happiness, and of which only private life (and this may be
passed under very various external circumstances) is capable
— this consolation those may draw from history, who stand
in need of it ; and it is craved by Envy — vexed at what is great
and transcendant — striving, therefore, to depreciate it, and to
find some flaw in it. Thus in modern times it has been demon-
strated ad nauseam that princes are generally unhappy on their
thrones ; in consideration of which the possession of a throne
is tolerated, and men acquiesce in the fact that not themselves
but the personages in question are its occupants. The Free
Man, we may observe, is not envious, but gladly recognizes
what is great and exalted, and rejoices that it exists.
It is in the light of those common elements which constitute
the interest and therefore the passions of individuals, that these
historical men are to be regarded. They are great men, be-
cause they willed and accomplished something great ; not a
mere fancy, a mere intention, but that which met the case and
fell in with the needs of the age. This mode of considering
them also excludes the so-called " psychological " view, which
— serving the purpose of envy most effectually — contrives so
to refer all actions to the heart — to bring them under such
a subjective aspect — as that their authors appear to have done
everything under the impulse of some passion, mean or grand
— some morbid craving — and on account of these passions and
cravings to have been not moral men. Alexander of Macedon
partly subdued Greece, and then Asia ; therefore he was pos-
sessed by a morbid craving for conquest. He is alleged to have
acted from a craving for fame, for conquest ; and the proof that
these were the impelling motives is that he did that which re-
32
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
suited in fame. What pedagogue has not demonstrated of Al-
exander the Great — of Julius Caesar — that they were in-
stigated by such passions, and were consequently immoral
men ? — whence the conclusion immediately follows that he, the
pedagogue, is a better man than they, because he has not such
passions ; a proof of which lies in the fact that he does not
conquer Asia — vanquish Darius and Porus — but while he en-
joys life himself, lets others enjoy it too. These psychologists
are particularly fond of contemplating those peculiarities of
great historical figures which appertain to them as private
persons. Man must eat and drink ; he sustains relations to
friends and acquaintances ; he has passing impulses and ebulli-
tions of temper. " No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre "
is a well-known proverb ; I have added — and Goethe repeated
it ten years later — " but not because the former is no hero, but
because the latter is a valet." He takes off the hero's boots,
assists him to bed, knows that he prefers champagne, etc. His-
torical personages waited upon in historical literature by such
psychological valets, come poorly off ; they are brought down
by these their attendants to a level with — or rather a few de-
grees below the level of — the morality of such exquisite dis-
cerners of spirits. The Thersites of Homer who abuses the
kings is a standing figure for all times. Blows — that is beating
with a solid cudgel — he does not get in every age, as in the
Homeric one ; but his envy, his egotism, is the thorn which
he has to carry in his flesh ; and the undying worm that gnaws
him is the tormenting consideration that his excellent views
and vituperations remain absolutely without result in the
world. But our satisfaction at the fate of Thersitism also may
have its sinister side.
A World-historical individual is not so unwise as to indu.ge
a variety of wishes to divide his regards. He is devoted to the
One Aim, regardless of all else. It is even possible that such
men may treat other great, even sacred interests, inconsider-
ately ; conduct which is indeed obnoxious to moral reprehen-
sion. But so mighty a form must trample down many an inno-
cent flower — crush to pieces many an object in its path.
The special interest of passion is thus inseparable from the
active development of a general principle: for it is from the
special and determinate and from its negation, that the Univer-
sal results. Particularity contends with its like, and some loss
INTRODUCTION
S3
is involved in the issue. It is not the general idea that is im-
plicated in opposition and combat, and that is exposed to dan-
ger. It remains in the background, untouched and uninjured.
This may be called the cunning of reason — that it sets the pas-
sions to work for itself, while that which develops its existence
through such impulsion pays the penalty, and suffers loss. For
it is phenomenal being that is so treated, and of this part is of
no value, part is positive and real. The particular is for the
most part of too trifling value as compared with the general :
individuals are sacrificed and abandoned. The Idea pays the
penalty of determinate existence and of corruptibility, not from
itself, but from the passions of individuals.
But though we might tolerate the idea that individuals, their
desires and the gratification of them, are thus sacrificed, and
their happiness given up to the empire of chance, to which it
belongs; and that as a general rule, individuals come under
the category of means to an ulterior end — there is one aspect
of human individuality which we should hesitate to regard in
that subordinate light, even in relation to the highest; since
it is absolutely no subordinate element, but exists in those in-
dividuals as inherently eternal and divine. I mean morality,
ethics, religion. Even when speaking of the realization of the
great ideal aim by means of individuals, the subjective element
in them — their interest and that of their cravings and impulses,
their views and judgments, though exhibited as the merely
formal side of their existence — -was spoken of as having an
infinite right to be consulted. The first idea that presents itself
in speaking of means is that of something external to the ob-
ject, and having no share in the object itself. But merely
natural things — even the commonest lifeless objects — used as
means, must be of such a kind as adapts them to their purpose ;
they must possess something in common with it. Human be-
ings least of all sustain the bare external relation of mere
means to the great ideal aim. Not only do they in the very
act of realizing it, make it the occasion of satisfying personal
desires, whose purport is diverse from that aim — but they share
in that ideal aim itself ; and are for that very reason objects of
their own existence ; not formally merely, as the world of living
beings generally is — whose individual life is essentially sub-
ordinate to that of man, and is properly used up as an instru-
ment. Men, on the contrary, are objects of existence to them-
34 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
selves, as regards the intrinsic import of the aim in question.
To this order belongs that in them which we would exclude
from the category of mere means — Morality, Ethics, Re-
ligion. That is to say, man is an object of existence in him-
self only in virtue of the Divine that is in him — that which
was designated at the outset as Reason; which, in view of its
activity and power of self-determination, was called Freedom.
And we affirm — without entering at present on the proof of
the assertion — that Religion, Morality, etc., have their founda-
tion and source in that principle, and so are essentially elevated
above all alien necessity and chance. And here we must re-
mark that individuals, to the extent of their freedom, are re-
sponsible for the depravation and enfeeblement of morals and
religion. This is the seal of the absolute and sublime destiny
of man — that he knows what is good and what is evil ; that
his Destiny is his very ability to will either good or evil — in
one word, that he is the subject of moral imputation, imputa-
tion not only of evil, but of good ; and not only concerning
this or that particular matter, and all that happens ab extra,
but also the good and evil attaching to his individual freedom.
The brute alone is simply innocent. It would, however, de-
mand an extensive explanation — as extensive as the analysis
of moral freedom itself — to preclude or obviate all the misun-
derstandings which the statement that what is called innocence
imports the entire unconsciousness of evil — is wont to occa-
sion.
In contemplating the fate which virtue, morality, even piety
experience in history, we must not fall into the Litany of
Lamentations, that the good and pious often — or for the most
part — fare ill in the world, while the evil-disposed and wicked
prosper. The term prosperity is used in a variety of meanings
— riches, outward honor, and the like. But in speaking of
something which in and for itself constitutes an aim of ex-
istence, that so-called well or ill-faring of these or those isolated
individuals cannot be regarded as an essential element in the
rational order of the universe. With more justice than hap-
piness — or a fortunate environment for individuals — it is de-
manded of the grand aim of the world's existence, that it should
foster, nay involve the execution and ratification of good,
moral, righteous purposes. What makes men morally discon-
tented (a discontent, by the bye, on which they somewhat pride
INTRODUCTION
35
themselves), is that they do not find the present adapted to
the realization of aims which they hold to be right and just
(more especially in modern times, ideals of political consti-
tutions) ; they contrast unfavorably things as they are, with
their idea of things as they ought to be. In this case it is not
private interest nor passion that desires gratification, but Rea-
son, Justice, Liberty ; and equipped with this title, the demand
in question assumes a lofty bearing, and readily adopts a posi-
tion not merely of discontent, but of open revolt against the
actual condition of the world. To estimate such a feeling and
such views aright, the demands insisted upon, and the very
dogmatic opinions asserted, must be examined. At no time
so much as in our own, have such general principles and
notions been advanced, or with greater assurance. If in days
gone by, history seems to present itself as a struggle of pas-
sions ; in our time — though displays of passion are not want-
ing — it exhibits partly a predominance of the struggle of no-
tions assuming the authority of principles ; partly that of
passions and interests essentially subjective, but under the
mask of such higher sanctions. The pretensions thus con-
tended for as legitimate in the name of that which has been
stated as the ultimate aim of Reason, pass accordingly, for
absolute aims — to the same extent as Religion, Morals,
Ethics. Nothing, as before remarked, is now more common
than the complaint that the ideals which imagination sets up
are not realized — that these glorious dreams are destroyed
by cold actuality. These Ideals — which in the voyage of life
founder on the rocks of hard reality — may be in the first in-
stance only subjective, and belong to the idiosyncrasy of the
individual, imagining himself the highest and wisest. Such do
not properly belong to this category. For the fancies which
the individual in his isolation indulges, cannot be the model
for universal reality ; just as universal law is not designed for
the units of the mass. These as such may, in fact, find their
interests decidedly thrust into the background. But by the
term " Ideal," we also understand the ideal of Reason, of the
Good, of the True. Poets, as e.g. Schiller, have painted such
ideals touchingly and with strong emotion, and with the deeply
melancholy conviction that they could not be realized. In
affirming, on the contrary, that the Universal Reason does
realize itself, we have indeed nothing to do with the individual
Vol. 23 C— Classics
36 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
empirically regarded. That admits of degrees of better and
worse, since here chance and speciality have received au-
thority from the Idea to exercise their monstrous power.
Much, therefore, in particular aspects of the grand phenom-
enon might be found fault with. This subjective fault-finding
— which, however, only keeps in view the individual and its
deficiency, without taking notice of Reason pervading the
whole — is easy ; and inasmuch as it asserts an excellent inten-
tion with regard to the good of the whole, and seems to result
from a kindly heart, it feels authorized to give itself airs and
assume great consequence. It is easier to discover a defi-
ciency in individuals, in states, and in Providence, than to see
their real import and value. For in this merely negative fault-
finding a proud position is taken — one which overlooks the
object, without having entered into it — without having com-
prehended its positive aspect. Age generally makes men more
tolerant ; youth is always discontented. The tolerance of age
is the result of the ripeness of a judgment which, not merely
as the result of indifference, is satisfied even with what is in-
ferior; but, more deeply taught by the grave experience of
life, has been led to perceive the substantial, solid worth of
the object in question. The insight then to which — in contra-
distinction from those ideals — philosophy is to lead us, is, that
the real world is as it ought to be — that the truly good — the
universal divine reason — is not a mere abstraction, but a vital
principle capable of realizing itself. This Good, this Reason, in
its most concrete form, is God. God governs the world ; the
actual /orking of his government — the carrying out of his
plan — is the History of the World. This plan philosophy
strives to comprehend ; for only that which has been developed
as the result of it, possesses bona Ude reality. That which does
not accord with it, is negative, worthless existence. Before
the pure light of this divine Idea — which is no mere Ideal —
the phantom of a world whose events are an incoherent con-
course of fortuitous circumstances, utterly vanishes. Philos-
ophy wishes to discover the substantial purport, the real side, of
the divine idea, and to justify the so much despised Reality of
things ; for Reason is the comprehension of the Divine work.
But as to what concerns the perversion, corruption, and ruin
of religious, ethical, and moral purposes, and states of society
generally, it must be affirmed that in their essence these are in-
INTRODUCTION 37
finite and eternal ; but that the forms they assume may be of a
limited order, and consequently belong to the domain of mere
nature, and be subject to the sway of chance. They are there-
fore perishable, and exposed to decay and corruption. Religion
and morality — in the same way as inherently universal essences
- — have the peculiarity of being present in the individual soul,
in the full extent of their Idea, and therefore truly and really ;
although, thev may not manifest themselves in it in extenso,
and are not applied to fully developed relations. The religion,
the morality of a limited sphere of life — that of a shepherd or
a peasant, e.g. — in its intensive concentration and limitation to
a few perfectly simple relations of life — has infinite worth ; the
same worth as the religion and morality of extensive knowl-
edge, and of an existence rich in the compass of its relations and
actions. This inner focus — this simple region of the claims of
subjective freedom — the home of volition, resolution, and ac-
tion — the abstract sphere of conscience — that which comprises
the responsibility and moral value of the individual, remains
untouched ; and is quite shut out from the noisy din of the
World's History — including not merely external and temporal
changes, but also those entailed by the absolute necessity in-
separable from the realization of the Idea of Freedom itself.
But as a general truth this must be regarded as settled, that
whatever in the world possesses claims as noble and glorious,
has nevertheless a higher existence above it. The claim of the
World-Spirit rises above all special claims.
These observations may suffice in reference to the means
which the World-Spirit uses for realizing its Idea. Stated sim-
ply and abstractly, this mediation involves the activity of per*
sonal existences in whom Reason is present as their absolute,
substantial being ; but a basis, in the first instance, still obscure
and unknown to them. But the subject becomes more com-
plicated and difficult when we regard individuals not merely in
their aspect of activity, but more concretely, in conjunction
with a particular manifestation of that activity in their religion
and morality — forms of existence which are intimately con-
nected with Reason, and share in its absolute claims. Here
the relation of mere means to an end disappears, and the chief
bearings of this seeming difficulty in reference to the absolute
aim of Spirit have been briefly considered.
(3) The third point to be analyzed is, therefore — what is
38 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the object to be realized by these means ; i.e. what is the form it
assumes in the realm of reality. We have spoken of means;
but in the carrying out of a subjective, limited aim, we have
also to take into consideration the element of a material, either
already present or which has to be procured. Thus the question
would arise : What is the material in which the Ideal of Rea-
son is wrought out ? The primary answer would be — Person-
ality itself — human desires — Subjectivity generally. In human
knowledge and volition, as its material element, Reason attains
positive existence. We have considered subjective volition
where it has an object which is the truth and essence of a real-
ity, viz., where it constitutes a great world-historical passion.
As a subjective will, occupied with limited passions, it is depen-
dent, and can gratify its desires only within the limits of this
dependence. But the subjective will has also a substantial life
— a reality — in which it moves in the region of essential being,
and has the essential itself as the object of its existence. This
essential being is the union of the subjective with the rational
Will : it is the moral Whole, the State, which is that form of re-
ality in which the individual has and enjoys his freedom ; but on
the condition of his recognizing, believing in, and willing that
which is common to the Whole. And this must not be under-
stood as if the subjective will of the social unit attained its grati-
fication and enjoyment through that common Will ; as if this
were a means provided for its benefit ; as if the individual, in
his relations to other individuals, thus limited his freedom, in
order that this universal limitation — the mutual constraint of
all — might secure a small space of liberty for each. Rather, we
affirm, are Law, Morality, Government, and they alone, the
positive reality and completion of Freedom. Freedom of a low
and limited order is mere caprice ; which finds its exercise in
the sphere of particular and limited desires.
Subjective volition — Passion — is that which sets men in ac-
tivity, that which effects " practical " realization. The Idea is
the inner spring of action ; the State is the actually existing,
realized moral life. For it is the Unity of the universal, essen-
tial Will, with that of the individual ; and this is " Morality."
The Individual living in this unity has a moral life ; possesses
a value that consists in this substantiality alone. Sophocles in
his Antigone, says, " The divine commands are not of yester-
day, nor of today ; no, they have an infinite existence, and no
, INTRODUCTION 39
one could say whence they came." The laws of morality are
not accidental, but are the essentially Rational. It is the very
object of the State that what is essential in the practical activity
of men, and in their dispositions, should be duly recognized ;
that it should have a manifest existence, and maintain its posi-
tion. It is the absolute interest of Reason that this moral Whole
should exist; and herein lie the justification and merit of
heroes who have founded states — however rude these may have
been. In the history of the World, only those peoples can come
under our notice which form a state. For it must be understood
that this latter is the realization of Freedom, i.e. of the absolute
final aim, and that it exists for its own sake. It must further be
understood that all the worth which the human being possesses
— all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State. For
his spiritual reality consists in this, that his own essence — Rea-
son — is objectively present to him, that it possesses objective
immediate existence for him. Thus only is he fully conscious ;
thus only is he a partaker of morality — of a just and moral social
and political life. For Truth is the Unity of the universal and
subjective Will ; and the Universal is to be found in the State,
in its laws, its universal and rational arrangements. The State
is the Divine Idea as it exists on Earth. We have in it, there-
fore, the object of History in a more definite shape than before ;
that in which Freedom obtains objectivity, and lives in the en-
joyment of this objectivity. For Law i§ the objectivity of
Spirit ; volition in its true form. Only that will which obeys
law, is free ; for it obeys itself — it is independent and so free.
When the State or our country constitutes a community of ex-
istence ; when the subjective will of man submits to laws — the
contradiction between Liberty and Necessity vanishes. The
Rational has necessary existence, as being the reality and sub-
stance of things, and we are free in recognizing it as law, and
following it as the substance of our own being. The objective
and the subjective will are then reconciled, and present one
identical homogeneous whole. For the morality (Sittlichkeit)
of the State is not of that ethical (moralische) reflective kind, in
which one's own conviction bears sway ; this latter is rather the
peculiarity of the modern time, while the true antique morality
is based on the principle of abiding by one's duty [to the state
at large] . An Athenian citizen did what was required of him,
as it were from instinct: but if I reflect on the object of my
4 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
activity, I must have the consciousness that my will has been
called into exercise. But morality is Duty — substantial Right
— a " second nature " as it has been justly called ; for the first
nature of man is his primary merely animal existence.
The development in extenso of the Idea of the State belongs to
the Philosophy of Jurisprudence ; but it must be observed that
in the theories of our time various errors are current respecting
it, which pass for established truths, and have become fixed
prejudices. We will mention only a few of them, giving promi-
nence to such as have a reference to the object of our history.
The error which first meets us is the direct contradictory of
our principle that the state presents the realization of Freedom ;
the opinion, viz., that man is free by nature, but that in society,
in the State — to which nevertheless he is irresistibly impelled
— he must limit this natural freedom. That man is free by
Nature is quite correct in one sense ; viz., that he is so accord-
ing to the Idea of Humanity ; but we imply thereby that he is
such only in virtue of his destiny — that he has an undeveloped
power to become such ; for the " Nature " of an object is ex-
actly synonymous with its " Idea." But the view in question
imports more than this. When man is spoken of as " free by
Nature," the mode of his existence as well as his destiny is im-
plied. His merely natural and primary condition is intended.
In this sense a " state of Nature " is assumed in which mankind
at large are in the possession of their natural rights with the
unconstrained exercise and enjoyment of their freedom. This
assumption is not indeed raised to the dignity of the historical
fact; it would indeed be difficult, were the attempt seriously
made, to p.oint out any such condition as actually existing, or
as having ever occurred. Examples of a savage state of life
can be pointed out, but they are marked by brutal passions and
deeds of violence ; while, however rude and simple their con-
ditions, they involve social arrangements which (to use the
common phrase) restrain freedom. That assumption is one of
those nebulous images which theory produces ; an idea which
it cannot avoid originating, but which it fathers upon real exist-
ence, without sufficient historical justification.
What we find such a state of Nature to be in actual experi-
ence, answers exactly to the Idea of a merely natural condition.
Freedom as the ideal of that which is original and natural, does
not exist as original and natural. Rather must it be first sought
INTRODUCTION
41
out and won; and that by an incalculable medial discipline
of the intellectual and moral powers. The state of Nature is,
therefore, predominantly that of injustice and violence, of un-
tamed natural impulses, of inhuman deeds and feelings. Limi-
tation is certainly produced by Society and the State, but it is
a limitation of the mere brute emotions and rude instincts ; as
also, in a more advanced stage of culture, of the premeditated
self-will of caprice and passion. This kind of constraint is part
of the instrumentality by which only, the consciousness of Free-
dom and the desire for its attainment, in its true — that is Ra-
tional and Ideal form — can be obtained. To the Ideal of Free-
dom, Law and Morality are indispensably requisite ; and they
are in and for themselves, universal existences, objects and
aims ; which are discovered only by the activity of thought,
separating itself from the merely sensuous, and developing it-
self, in opposition thereto ; and which must on the other hand,
be introduced into and incorporated with the originally sensu-
ous will, and that contrarily to its natural inclination. The
perpetually recurring misapprehension of Freedom consists in
regarding that term only in its formal, subjective sense, ab-
stracted from its essential objects and aims ; thus a constraint
put upon impulse, desire, passion — pertaining to the particular
individual as such — a limitation of caprice and self-will is re-
garded as a fettering of Freedom. We should on the contrary
look upon such limitation as the indispensable proviso of eman-
cipation. Society and the State are the very conditions in
which Freedom is realized.
We must notice a second view, contravening the principle of
the development of moral relations into a legal form. The
patriarchal condition is regarded — either in reference to the en-
tire race of man, or to some branches of it — as exclusively that
condition of things, in which the legal element is combined with
a due recognition of the moral and emotional parts of our
nature; and in which justice as united with these, truly and
really influences the intercourse of the social units. The basis
of the patriarchal condition is the family relation ; which de-
velops the primary form of conscious morality, succeeded by
that of the State as its second phase. The patriarchal condition
is one of transition, in which the family has already advanced
to the position of a race or people ; where the union, therefore,
has already ceased to be simply a bond of love and confidence,
42 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
and has become one of plighted service. We must first examine
the ethical principle of the Family. The Family may be reck-
oned as virtually a single person ; since its members have either
mutually surrendered their individual personality, (and conse-
quently their legal position towards each other, with the rest of
their particular interests and desires) as in the case of the
Parents; or have not yet attained such an independent per-
sonality — (the Children — who are primarily in that merely
natural condition already mentioned). They live, therefore, in
a unity of feeling, love, confidence, and faith in each other. And
in a relation of natural love, the one individual has the con-
sciousness of himself in the consciousness of the other ; he lives
out of self; and in this mutual self-renunciation each regains
the life that had been virtually transferred to the other ; gains,
in fact, that other's existence and his own, as involved with that
other. The farther interests connected with the necessities and
external concerns of life, as well as the development that has
to take place within their circle, i.e. of the children, constitute
a common object for the members of the Family. The Spirit
of the Family — the Penates — form one substantial being, as
much as the Spirit of a People in the State ; and morality in
both cases consists in a feeling, a consciousness, and a will, not
limited to individual personality and interest, but embracing
the common interests of the members generally. But this
unity is in the case of the Family essentially one of feeling; not
advancing beyond the limits of the merely natural. The piety
of the Family relation should be respected in the highest degree
by the State ; by its means the State obtains as its members
individuals who are already moral (for as mere persons they are
not) and who in uniting to form a state bring with them that
sound basis of a political edifice — the capacity of feeling one
with a Whole. But the expansion of the Family to a patriarchal
unity carries us beyond the ties of blood-relationship — the sim-
ply natural elements of that basis ; and outside of these limits
the members of the community must enter upon the position
of independent personality. A review of the patriarchal condi-
tion, in extenso, would lead us to give special attention to the
Theocratical Constitution. The head of the patriarchal clan
is also its priest. If the Family in its general relations, is not
yet separated from civic society and the state, the separation of
religion from it has also not yet taken place ; and so much the
INTRODUCTION
43
less since the piety of the hearth is itself a profoundly subjective
state of feeling.
We have considered two aspects of Freedom, — the objective
and the subjective ; if, therefore, Freedom is asserted to con-
sist in the individuals of a State all agreeing in its arrangements,
it is evident that only the subjective aspect is regarded. The
natural inference from this principle is, that no law can be valid
without the approval of all. This difficulty is attempted* to be
obviated by the decision that the minority must yield to the
majority ; the majority therefore bear the sway. But long ago
J. J. Rousseau remarked that in that case there would be no
longer freedom, for the will of the minority would cease to be re-
spected. At the Polish Diet each single member had to give
his consent before any political step could be taken ; and this
kind of freedom it was that ruined the State. Besides, it is a
dangerous and false prejudice, that the People alone have rea-
son and insight, and know what justice is; for each popular
faction may represent itself as the People, and the question as
to what constitutes the State is one of advanced science, and not
of popular decision.
If the principle of regard for the individual will is recog-
nized as the only basis of political liberty, viz., that nothing
should be done by or for the State to which all the members
of the body politic have not given their sanction, we have,
properly speaking, no Constitution. The only arrangement that
would be necessary, would be, first, a centre having no will
of its own, but which should take into consideration what ap-
peared to be the necessities of the State ; and, secondly, a con-
trivance for calling the members of the State together, for tak-
ing the votes, and for performing the arithmetical operations
of reckoning and comparing the number of votes for the differ-
ent propositions, and thereby deciding upon them. The State
is an abstraction, having even its generic existence in its citizens ;
but it is an actuality, and its simply generic existence must em-
body itself in individual will and activity. The want of govern-
ment and political administration in general is felt ; this neces-
sitates the selection and separation from the rest of those who
have to take the helm in political affairs, to decide concerning
them, and to give orders to other citizens, with a view to the
execution of their plans. If e.g. even the people in a Democracy
resolve on a war, a genev al must head the army. It is only by
44 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
a Constitution that the abstraction — the State — attains life and
reality; but this involves the distinction between those who
command and those who obey. — Yet obedience seems incon-
sistent with liberty, and those who command appear to do the
very opposite of that which the fundamental idea of the State,
viz. that of Freedom, requires. It is, however, urged that —
though the distinction between commanding and obeying is
absolutely necessary, because affairs could not go on without it
— and indeed this seems only a compulsory limitation, external
to and even contravening freedom in the abstract — the consti-
tution should be at least so framed, that the citizens may obey
as little as possible, and the smallest modicum of free volition
be left to the commands of the superiors ; — that the substance
of that for which subordination is necessary, even in its most
important bearings, should be decided and resolved on by the
People — by the will of many or of all the citizens ; though it
is supposed to be thereby provided that the State should be
possessed of vigor and strength as a reality — an individual
unity. — The primary consideration is, then, the distinction be-
tween the governing and the governed, and the political consti-
tutions in the abstract have been rightly divided into Monarchy,
Aristocracy, and Democracy ; which gives occasion, however,
to the remark that Monarchy itself must be further divided into
Despotism and Monarchy proper ; that in all the divisions to
which the leading Idea gives rise, only the generic character
is to be made prominent — it being not intended thereby that
the particular category under review should be exhausted as
a Form, Order, or Kind in its concrete development. But es-
pecially it must be observed, that the above-mentioned divi-
sions admit of a multitude of particular modifications — not
only such as lie within the limits of those classes themselves —
but also such as are mixtures of several of these essentially dis-
tinct classes, and which are consequently misshapen, unstable,
and inconsistent forms. In such a collision, the concerning
question is, what is the best constitution; that is, by what arrange-
ment, organization, or mechanism of the power of the State
its object can be most surely attained. This object may indeed
be variously understood ; for instance, as the calm enjoyment
of life on the part of the citizens, or as Universal Happiness.
Such aims have suggested the so-called Ideals of Constitutions,
and — as a particular branch of the subject — Ideals of the Edu-
INTRODUCTION 45
cation of Princes (Fenelon), or of the governing body — the
aristocracy at large (Plato) ; for the chief point they treat of is
the condition of those subjects who stand at the head of affairs :
and in these Ideals the concrete details of political organization
are not at all considered. The inquiry into the best constitu-
tion is frequently treated as if not only the theory were an affair
of subjective independent conviction, but as if the introduction
of a constitution recognized as the best — or as superior to
others — could be the result of a resolve adopted in this theo-
retical manner ; as if the form of a constitution were a matter
of free choice, determined by nothing else but reflection. Of
this artless fashion was that deliberation — not indeed of the
Persian people, but of the Persian grandees, who had conspired
to overthrow the pseudo-Smerdis and the Magi, after their un-
dertaking had succeeded, and when there was no scion of the
royal family living— as to what constitution they should intro-
duce into Persia; and Herodotus gives an equally naive ac-
count of this deliberation.
In the present day, the Constitution of a country and people
is not represented as so entirely dependent on free and delib-
erate choice. The fundamental but abstractly (and therefore
imperfectly) entertained conception of Freedom, has resulted
in the Republic being very generally regarded — in theory —
as the only just and true political constitution. Many even,
who occupy elevated official positions uncler monarchical con-
stitutions — so far from being opposed to this idea — are actually
its supporters; only they see that such a constitution, though
the best, cannot be realized under all circumstances; and that
— while men are what they are — we must be satisfied with less
freedom; the monarchical constitution — under the given cir-
cumstances, and the present moral condition of the people —
being even regarded as the most advantageous. In this view
also, the necessity of a particular constitution is made to de-
pend on the condition of the people in such a way as if the
latter were non-essential and accidental. This representation
is founded on the distinction which the reflective understanding
makes between an idea and the corresponding reality ; holding
to an abstract and consequently untrue idea ; not grasping it
in its completeness, or — which is virtually, though not in point
of form, the same — not taking a concrete view of a people and
a state. We shall have to show further on that the constitution
46 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
adopted by a people makes one substance — one spirit — with its
religion, its art and philosophy, or, at least, with its concep-
tions and thoughts — its culture generally; not to expatiate
upon the additional influences, ab extra, of climate, of neigh-
bors, of its place in the World. A State is an individual totality,
of which you cannot select any particular side, although a
supremely important one, such as its political constitution;
and deliberate and decide respecting it in that isolated form.
Not only is that constitution most intimately connected with
and dependent on those other spiritual forces; but the form
of the entire moral and intellectual individuality — comprising
all the forces it embodies — is only a step in the development of
the grand Whole — with its place preappointed in the process;
a fact which gives the highest sanction to the constitution in
question, and establishes its absolute necessity. — The origin
of a state involves imperious lordship on the one hand, instinc-
tive submission on the other. But even obedience — lordly
power, and the fear inspired by a ruler — in itself implies some
degree of voluntary connection. Even in barbarous states this
is the case; it is not the isolated will of individuals that pre-
vails; individual pretensions are relinquished, and the general
will is the essential bond of political union. This unity of the
general and the particular is the Idea itself, manifesting itself
as a state, and which subsequently undergoes further develop-
ment within itself. The abstract yet necessitated process in the
development of truly independent states is as follows: — They
begin with regal power, whether of patriarchal or military ori-
gin. In the next phase, particularity and individuality assert
themselves in the form of Aristocracy and Democracy. Lastly,
we have the subjection of these separate interests to a single
power ; but which can be absolutely none other than one out-
side of which those spheres have an independent position, viz.,
the Monarchical. Two phases of royalty, therefore, must be
distinguished — a primary and a secondary one. This process
is necessitated, so that the form of government assigned to
a particular stage of development must present itself: it is
therefore no matter of choice, but is that form which is adapted
to the spirit of the people.
In a Constitution the main feature of interest is the self-
development of the rational, that is, the political condition of
a people; the setting free of the successive elements of the
INTRODUCTION 47
Idea: so that the several powers in the State manifest them-
selves as separate — attain their appropriate and special perfec-
tion — and yet in this independent condition, work together for
one object, and are held together by it — i.e., form an organic
whole. The State is thus the embodiment of rational freedom,
realizing and recognizing itself in an objective form. For its
objectivity consists in this — that its successive stages are not
merely ideal, but are present in an appropriate reality; and
that in their separate and several working, they are absolutely
merged in that agency by which the totality — the soul — the
individuate unity — is produced, and of which it is the result.
The State is the Idea of Spirit in the external manifestation
of human Will and its Freedom. It is to the State, therefore,
that change in the aspect of History indissolubly attaches itself ;
and the successive phases of the Idea manifest themselves in it
as distinct political principles. The Constitutions under which
World-Historical peoples have reached their culmination, are
peculiar to them ; and therefore do not present a generally ap-
plicable political basis. Were it otherwise, the differences of
similar constitutions would consist only in a peculiar method
of expanding and developing that generic basis ; whereas they
really originate in diversity of principle. From the comparison
therefore of the political institutions of the ancient World-His-
torical peoples, it so happens, that for theonost recent principle
of a Constitution — for the principle of our own times — nothing
(so to speak) can be learned. In science and art it is quite
otherwise ; e.g., the ancient philosophy is so decidedly the basis
of the modern, that it is inevitably contained in the latter, and
constitutes its basis. In this case the relation is that of a con-
tinuous development of the same structure, whose foundation-
stone, walls, and roof have remained what they were. In Art,
the Greek itself, in its original form, furnishes us the best
models. But in regard to political constitution, it is quite other-
wise : here the Ancient and the Modern have not their essential
principle in common. Abstract definitions and dogmas respect-
ing just government — importing that intelligence and virtue
ought to bear sway — are, indeed, common to both. But noth-
ing is so absurd as to look to Greeks, Romans, or Orientals,
for models for the political arrangements of our time. From
the East may be derived beautiful pictures of a patriarchal
condition, of paternal government, and of devotion to it on
48 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the part of peoples; from Greeks and Romans, descriptions
of popular liberty. Among the latter we find the idea of a
Free Constitution admitting all the citizens to a share in de-
liberations and resolves respecting the affairs and laws of the
Commonwealth. In our times, too, this is its general accep-
tation; only with this modification, that — since our states are
so large, and there are so many of " the Many," the latter —
direct action being impossible — should by the indirect method
of elective substitution express their concurrence with resolves
affecting the common weal; that is, that for legislative pur-
poses generally, the people should be represented by deputies.
The so-called Representative Constitution is that form of gov-
ernment with which we connect the idea of a free constitution ;
and this notion has become a rooted prejudice. On this theory
People and Government are separated. But there is a perversity
in this antithesis ; an ill-intentioned ruse designed to insinuate
that the People are the totality of the State. Besides, the basis
of this view is the principle of isolated individuality — the abso-
lute validity of the subjective will — a dogma which we have
already investigated. The great point is, that Freedom in its
Ideal conception has not subjective will and caprice for its
principle, but the recognition of the universal will; and that
the process by which Freedom is realized is the free develop-
ment of its successive stages. The subjective will is a merely
formal determination — a carte blanche — not including what it
is that is willed. Only the rational will is that universal prin-
ciple which independently determines and unfolds its own be-
ing, and develops its successive elemental phases as organic
members. Of this Gothic-cathedral architecture the ancients
knew nothing.
At an earlier stage of the discussion we established the two
elemental considerations : first, the idea of freedom as the abso-
lute and final aim ; secondly, the means for realizing it, i.e., the
subjective side of knowledge and will, with its life, movement,
and activity. We then recognized the State as the moral Whole
and the R.eality of Freedom, and consequently as the objective
unity of these two elements. For although we make this dis-
tinction into two aspects for our consideration, it must be
remarked that they are intimately connected; and that their
connection is involved in the idea of each when examined sep-
arately. We have, on the one hand, recognized the Idea in
INTRODUCTION 49
the definite form of Freedom conscious of and willing itself —
having itself alone as its object: involving at the same time,
the pure and simple Idea of Reason, and likewise, that which
we have called subject — self-consciousness — Spirit actually ex-
isting in the World. If, on the other hand, we consider Sub-
jectivity, we find that subjective knowledge and will is Thought.
But by the very act of thoughtful cognition and volition, I will
the universal object — the substance of absolute Reason. We
observe, therefore, an essential union between the objective side
— the Idea — and the subjective side — the personality that con-
ceives and wills it. — The objective existence of this union is the
State, which is therefore the basis and centre of the other con-
crete elements of the life of a people — of Art, of Law, of Mor-
als, of Religion, of Science. All the activity of Spirit has only
this object — the becoming conscious of this union, i.e., of its
own Freedom. Among the forms of this conscious union Re-
ligion occupies the highest position. In it, Spirit— rising above
the limitations of temporal and secular existence — becomes
conscious of the Absolute Spirit, and in this consciousness of
the self-existent Being, renounces its individual interest; it
lays this aside in Devotion — a state of mind in which it refuses
to occupy itself any longer with the limited and particular.
By Sacrifice man expresses his renunciation of his property,
his will, his individual feelings. The religious concentration
of the soul appears in the form of feeling; it nevertheless
passes also into reflection; a form of worship (cultus) is a
result of reflection. The second form of the union of the ob-
jective and subjective in the human spirit is Art. This ad-
vances farther into the realm of the actual and sensuous than
Religion. In its noblest walk it is occupied with representing,
not indeed, the Spirit of God, but certainly the Form of God ;
and in its secondary aims, that which is divine and spiritual
generally. Its office is 1 to render visible the Divine ; presenting
it to the imaginative and intuitive faculty. But the True is the
object not only of conception and feeling, as in Religion — and
of intuition, as in Art — but also of the thinking faculty; and
this gives us the third form of the union in question — Philos-
ophy. This is consequently the highest, freest, and wisest
phase. Of course we are not intending to investigate these
three phases here; they have only suggested themselves in
50 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
virtue of their occupying the same general ground as the ob-
ject here considered — the State.
The general principle which manifests itself and becomes an
object of consciousness in the State — the form under which
all that the State includes is brought — is the whole of that cycle
of phenomena which constitutes the culture of a nation. But
the definite substance that receives the form of universality,
and exists in that concrete reality which is the State — is the"
Spirit of the People itself. The actual State is animated by this
spirit, in all its particular affairs — its Wars, Institutions, etc.
But man must also attain a conscious realization of this his
Spirit and essential nature, and of his original identity with it.
For we said that morality is the identity of the subjective or
personal with the universal will. Now the mind must give
itself an express consciousness of this; and the focus of this
knowledge is Religion. Art and Science are only various as-
pects and forms of the same substantial being. — In considering
Religion, the chief point of inquiry is, whether it recognizes
the True — the Idea — only in its separate, abstract form, or in
its true unity; in separation — God being represented in an
abstract form as the Highest Being, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
living in a remote region far from human actualities — or in
its unity — God, as Unity of the Universal and Individual ; the
Individual itself assuming the aspect of positive and real ex-
istence in the idea of the Incarnation. Religion is the sphere
in which a nation gives itself the definition of that which it
regards as the True. A definition contains everything that
belongs to the essence of an object; reducing its nature to its
simple characteristic predicate, as a mirror for every predicate
— the generic soul pervading all its details. The conception
of God, therefore, constitutes the general basis of a people's
character.
In this aspect, religion stands in the closest connection with
the political principle. Freedom can exist only where Individ-
uality is recognized as having its positive and real existence
in the Divine Being. The connection may be further explained
thus: — Secular existence, as merely temporal — occupied with
particular interests — is consequently only relative and unau-
thorized ; and receives its validity only in as far as the universal
soul that pervades it- — its principle — receives absolute validity;
which it cannot have unless it is recognized as the definite
INTRODUCTION 51
manifestation, the phenomenal existence of the Divine Essence.
On this account it is that the State rests on Religion. We
hear this often repeated in our times, though for the most part
nothing further is meant than that individual subjects as God-
fearing men would be more disposed and ready to perform
their duty ; since obedience to King and Law so naturally fol-
lows in the train of reverence for God. This reverence, in-
deed, since it exalts the general over the special, may even turn
upon the latter — become fanatical — and work with incendiary
and destructive violence against the State, its institutions, and
arrangements. Religious feeling, therefore, it is tho light, should
be sober — kept in a certain degree of coolness — that it may not
storm against and bear down that which should be defended
and preserved by it. The possibility of such a catastrophe is
at least latent in it.
While, however, the correct sentiment is adopted, that the
State is based on Religion, the position thus assigned to Re-
ligion supposes the State already to exist ; and that subse-
quently, in order to maintain it, Religion must be brought into
it — in buckets and bushels as it were — and impressed upon
people's hearts. It is quite true that men must be trained to
religion, but not as to something whose existence has yet to
begin. For in affirming that the State is based on Religion
— that it has its roots in it — we virtually assert that the former
has proceeded from the latter; and that this derivation is
going on now and will always continue; i.e., the principles
of the State must be regarded as valid in and for themselves,
which can only be in so far as they are recognized as deter-
minate manifestations of the Divine Nature. The form of
Religion, therefore, decides that of the State and its constitu-
tion. The latter actually originated in the particular religion
adopted by the nation; so that, in fact, the Athenian or the
Roman State was possible only in connection with the specific
form of Heathenism existing among the respective peoples;
just as a Catholic State has a spirit and constitution different
from that of a Protestant one.
If that outcry — that urging and striving for the implanta-
tion of Religion in the community — were an utterance of an-
guish and a call for help, as it often seems to be, expressing
the danger of religion having vanished, or being about to
vanish entirely from the State — that would be fearful indeed — ■
52 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
worse, in fact, than this outcry supposes; for it implies the
belief in a resource against the evil, viz., the implantation and
inculcation of religion; whereas religion is by no means a
thing to be so produced; its self-production (and there can be
no other) lies much deeper.
Another and opposite folly which we meet with in our time,
is that of pretending to invent and carry out political consti-
tutions independently of religion. The Catholic confession,
although sharing the Christian name with the Protestant, does
not concede to the State an inherent Justice and Morality —
a concession which in the Protestant principle is fundamental.
This tearing away of the political morality of the Constitution
from its natural connection, is necessary to the genius of that
religion, inasmuch as it does not recognize Justice and Morality
as independent and substantial. But thus excluded from in-
trinsic worth — torn away from their last refuge — the sanctuary
of conscience — the calm retreat where religion has its abode —
the principles and institutions of political legislation are desti-
tute of a real centre, to the same degree as they are compelled
to remain abstract and indefinite.
Summing up what has been said of the State, we find that
we have been led to call its vital principle, as actuating the
individuals who compose it — Morality. The State, its laws,
its arrangements, constitute the rights of its members; its
natural features, its mountains, air, and waters, are their coun-
try, their fatherland, their outward material property; the
history of this State, their deeds; what their ancestors have
produced belongs to them and lives in their memory. All
is their possession, just as they are possessed by it; for it
constitutes their existence, their being.
Their imagination is occupied with the ideas thus presented,
while the adoption of these laws, and of a fatherland so condi-
tioned is the expression of their will. It is this matured totality
Avhich thus constitutes one Being, the spirit of one People.
To it the individual members belong; each unit is the Son
of his Nation, and at the same time — in as far as the State
to which he belongs is undergoing development — the Son of
his Age. None remains behind it, still less advances beyond it.
This spiritual Being (the Spirit of his Time) is his; he is a
representative of it; it is that in which he originated, and in
which he lives. Among the Athenians the word Athens had a
INTRODUCTION 53
double import; suggesting- primarily a complex of political
institutions, but no less, in the second place, that Goddess who
represented the Spirit of the People and its unity.
This Spirit of a People is a determinate and particular Spirit,
and is, as just stated, further modified by the degree of its
historical development. This Spirit, then, constitutes the basis
and substance of those other forms of a nation's consciousness,
which have been noticed. For Spirit in its self-consciousness
must become an object of contemplation to itself, and objec-
tivity involves, in the first instance, the rise of differences which
make up a total of distinct spheres of objective spirit; in the
same way as the Soul exists only as the complex of its facul-
ties, which in their form of concentration in a simple unity
produce that Soul. It is thus One Individuality which, pre-
sented in its essence as God, is honored and enjoyed in Re-
ligion; which is exhibited as an object of sensuous contempla-
tion in Art; and is apprehended as an intellectual conception,
in Philosophy. In virtue of the original identity of their es-
sence, purport, and object, these various forms are inseparably
united with the Spirit of the State. Only in connection with
this particular religion, can this particular political constitution
exist ; just as in such or such a State, such or such a Philosophy
or order of Art.
The remark next in order is, that each particular National
genius is to be treated as only One Individual in the process
of Universal History. For that history is the exhibition of the
divine, absolute development of Spirit in its highest forms —
that gradation by which it attains its truth and consciousness
of itself. The forms which these grades of progress assume
are the characteristic " National Spirits " of History ; the pe-
culiar tenor of their moral life, of their Government, their Art,
Religion, and Science. To realize these grades is the boundless
impulse of the World- Spirit — the goal of its irresistible urging;
for this division into organic members, and the full develop-
ment of each, is its Idea. — Universal History is exclusively
occupied with showing how Spirit comes to a recognition and
adoption of the Truth : the dawn of knowledge appears ; it be-
gins to discover salient principles, and at last it arrives at full
consciousness.
Having, therefore, learned the abstract characteristics of
the nature of Spirit, the means which it uses to realize its
54
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Idea, and the shape assumed by it in its complete realization in
phenomenal existence — namely, the State — nothing further re-
mains for this introductory section to contemplate but
III. The course of the World's History. — The mutations
which history presents have been long characterized in the
general, as an advance to something better, more perfect. The
changes that take place in Nature — how infinitely manifold
soever they may be — exhibit only a perpetually self-repeating
cycle ; in Nature there happens " nothing new under the sun,"
and the multiform play of its phenomena so far induces a feel-
ing of ennui; only in those changes which take place in the
region of Spirit does anything new arise. This peculiarity in
the world of mind has indicated in the case of man an altogether
different destiny from that of merely natural objects — in which
we find always one and the same stable character, to which all
change reverts; — namely, a real capacity for change, and that
for the better — an impulse of perfectibility. This principle,
which reduces change itself under a law, has met with an un-
favorable reception from religions — such as the Catholic — and
from States claiming as their just right a stereotyped, or at least
a stable position. If the mutability of worldly things in gen-
eral — political constitutions, for instance — is conceded, either
Religion (as the Religion of Truth) is absolutely excepted, or
the difficulty escaped by ascribing changes, revolutions, and
abrogations of immaculate theories and institutions, to acci-
dents or imprudence — but principally to the levity and evil
passions of man. The principle of Perfectibility indeed is al-
most as indefinite a term as mutability in general ; it is without
scope or goal, and has no standard by which to estimate the
changes in question : the improved, more perfect, state of things
towards which it professedly tends is altogether undetermined.
The principle of Development involves also the existence of
a latent germ of being — a capacity or potentiality striving to
realize itself. This formal conception finds actual existence
in Spirit ; which has the History of the World for its theatre,
its possession, and the sphere of its realization. It is not of
such a nature as to be tossed to and fro amid the superficial play
of accidents, but is rather the absolute arbiter of things ; en-
tirely unmoved by contingencies, which, indeed, it applies and
manages for its own purposes. Development, however, is also
a property of organized natural objects. Their existence pre-
INTRODUCTION 55
sents itself, not as an exclusively dependent one, subjected to
external changes, but as one which expands itself in virtue
of an internal unchangeable principle; a simple essence —
whose existence, i.e., as a germ, is primarily simple — but which
subsequently develops a variety of parts, that become involved
with other objects, and consequently live through a continuous
process of changes ; — a process nevertheless, that results in the
very contrary of change, and is even transformed into a vis
conservatrix of the organic principle, and the form embodying
it. Thus the organized individuum produces itself ; it expands
itself actually to what it was always potentially. — So Spirit is
only that which it attains by its own efforts; it makes itself
actually what it always was potentially. — That development (of
natural organisms) takes place in a direct, unopposed, unhin-
dered manner. Between the Idea and its realization — the es-
sential constitution of the original germ and the conformity to
it of the existence derived from it — no disturbing influence can
intrude. But in relation to Spirit it is quite otherwise. The
realization of its Idea is mediated by consciousness and will;
these very faculties are, in the first instance, sunk in their pri-
mary merely natural life; the first object and goal of their
striving is the realization of their merely natural destiny —
but which, since it is Spirit that animates it, is possessed of
vast attractions and displays great power and (moral) richness.
Thus Spirit is at war with itself; it has to overcome itself
as its most formidable obstacle. That development which in
the sphere of Nature is a peaceful growth is, in that of spirit,
a severe, a mighty conflict with itself. What Spirit really
strives for is the realization of its Ideal being; but in doing
so, it hides that goal from its own vision, and is proud and well
satisfied in this alienation from it.
Its expansion, therefore, does not present the harmless tran-
quillity of mere growth, as does that of organic life, but a stern
reluctant working against itself. It exhibits, moreover, not
the mere formal conception of development, but the attainment
of a definite result. The goal of attainment we determined at
the outset : it is Spirit in its Completeness, in its essential nature,
i.e., Freedom. This is the fundamental object, and therefore
also the leading principle of the development — that whereby it
receives meaning and importance (as in the Roman history,
Rome is the object — consequently that which directs our con-
56 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
sideration of the facts related) ; as, conversely, the phenomena
of the process have resulted from this principle alone, and only
as referred to it, possess a sense of value. There are many con-
siderable periods in History in which this development seems
to have been intermitted; in which, we might rather say, the
whole enormous gain of previous culture appears to have been
entirely lost ; after which, unhappily, a new commencement has
been necessary, made in the hope of recovering — by the assist-
ance of some remains saved from the wreck of a former civiliza-
tion, and by dint of a renewed incalculable expenditure of
strength and time — one of the regions which had been an an-
cient possession of that civilization. We behold also continued
processes of growth ; structures and systems of culture in par-
ticular spheres, rich in kind, and well developed in every direc-
tion. The merely formal and indeterminate view of develop-
ment in general can neither assign to one form of expansion
superiority over the other, nor render comprehensible the object
of that decay of older periods of growth; but must regard
such occurrences — or, to speak more particularly, the retro-
cessions they exhibit — as external contingencies ; and can only
judge of particular modes of development from indeterminate
points of view ; which — since the development, as such, is all
in all — are relative and not absolute goals of attainment.
Universal History exhibits the gradation in the development
of that principle whose substantial purport is the consciousness
of Freedom. The analysis of the successive grades, in their
abstract form, belongs to Logic ; in their concrete aspect to
the Philosophy of Spirit. Here it is sufficient to state that the
first step in the process presents that immersion, of Spirit in
Nature which has been already referred to; the second shows
it as advancing to the consciousness of its freedom. But this
initial separation from Nature is imperfect and partial, since
it is derived immediately from the merely natural state, is
consequently related to it, and is still encumbered with it as
an essentially connected element. The third step is the elevation
of the soul from this still limited and special form of freedom
to its pure universal form ; that state in which the spiritual
essence attains the consciousness and feeling of itself. These
grades are the ground-principles of the general process ; but
how each of them on the other hand involves within itself
a process of formation — constituting the links in a dialectic
INTRODUCTION 57
of transition — to particularize this must be reserved for the
sequel.
Here we have only to indicate that Spirit begins with a
germ of infinite possibility, but only possibility — containing
its substantial existence in an undeveloped form, as the object
and goal which it reaches only in its resultant — full reality.
In actual existence Progress appears as an advancing from the
imperfect to the more perfect; but the former must not be
understood abstractly as only the imperfect, but as something
which involves the very opposite of itself — the so-called perfect
— as a germ or impulse. So — reflectively, at least — possibility
points to something destined to become actual ; the Aristo-
telian 8uva/u<; is also potentia, power and might. Thus the
Imperfect, as involving its opposite, is a contradiction, which
certainly exists, but which is continually annulled and solved ;
the instinctive movement — the inherent impulse in the life of
the soul — to break through the rind of mere nature, sensu-
ousness, and that which is alien to it, and to attain to the light
of consciousness, i.e. to itself.
We have already made the remark how the commencement
of the history of Spirit must be conceived so as to be in har-
mony with its Idea — in its bearing on the representations that
have been made of a primitive " natural condition," in which
freedom and justice are supposed to exist, or to have existed.
This was, however, nothing more than ah assumption of his-
torical existence, conceived in the twilight of theorizing re-
flection. A pretension of quite another order — not a mere
inference of reasoning, but making the claim of historical fact,
and that supernaturally confirmed — is put forth in connection
with a different view that is now widely promulgated by a
certain class of speculatists. This view takes up the idea of
the primitive paradisiacal conditon of man, which had been
previously expanded by the Theologians, after their fashion
— involving, e.g., the supposition that God spoke with Adam
in Hebrew — but remodelled to suit other requirements. The
high authority appealed to in the first instance is the biblical
narrative. But this depicts the primitive condition, partly only
in the few well-known traits, but partly either as in man gener-
ically — human nature at large — or, so far as Adam is to be
taken as an individual, and consequently one person — as exist-
ing and completed in this one, or only in one human pair. The
5 8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
biblical account by no means justifies us in imagining a people,
and a historical condition of such people, existing in that prim-
itive form ; still less does it warrant us in attributing to them
the possession of a perfectly developed knowledge of God and
Nature. " Nature," so the fiction runs, " like a clear mirror of
God's creation, had originally lain revealed and transparent to
the unclouded eye of man." * Divine Truth is imagined to
have been equally manifest. It is even hinted, though left in
some degree of obscurity, that in this primary condition men
were in possession of an indefinitely extended and already ex-
panded body of religious truths immediately revealed by God.
This theory affirms that all religions had their historical com-
mencement in this primitive knowledge, and that they polluted
and obscured the original Truth by the monstrous creations of
error and depravity; though in all the mythologies invented
by Error, traces of that origin and of those primitive true
dogmas are supposed to be present and cognizable. An im-
portant interest, therefore, accrues to the investigation of the
history of ancient peoples, that, viz., of the endeavor to trace
their annals up to the point where such fragments of the pri-
mary revelation are to be met with in greater purity than lower
down.f
We owe to the interest which has occasioned these investiga-
tions, very much that is valuable ; but this investigation bears
direct testimony against itself, for it would seem to be awaiting
the issue of an historical demonstration of that which is pre-
* Fr. von Schlegel, " Philosophy of clearer evidence in point of subject mat-
History," p. 91, Bonn's Standard Li- ter. The savans, M. Abel Remusat and
brary. M. Saint Martin, on the one hand, have
t We have to thank this interest for undertaken the most meritorious investi-
many valuable discoveries in Oriental gations in the Chinese literature, with a
literature, and for a renewed study of view to make this also a base of opera-
treasures previously known, in the de- tions for researches in the Mongolian
partment of ancient Asiatic Culture, and, if such were possible, in the Thibe-
Mythology, Religions, and History. In tan ; on the other hand, Baron von
Catholic countries, where a refined lit- Eckstein — in his way (i.e., adopting
erary taste prevails, Governments have from Germany superficial physical con-
yielded to the requirements of specula- ceptions and mannerisms, in the style of
tive inquiry, and have felt the necessity Fr. v. Schlegel, though with more genial-
of allying themselves with learning and ity than the latter) in his periodical, " Le
philosophy. Eloquently and impressive- Catholique " — has furthered the cause of
ly has the Abbe Lamennais reckoned it that primitive Catholicism generally, and
among the criteria of the true religion, in particular has gained for the savans
that it must be the universal — that is, of the Congregation the support of the
catholic — and the oldest in date; and the Government; so that it has even set on
Congregation has labored zealously and foot expeditions to the East, in order to
diligently in France towards rendering discover there treasures still concealed;
such assertions no longer mere pulpit (from which further disclosures have
tirades and authoritative dicta, such as been anticipated, respecting profound
were deemed sufficient formerly. The theological questions, particularly on the
religion of Buddha— a god-man — which higher antiquity and sources of Buddh-
has prevailed to such an enormous ex- ism), and with a view to promote the in-
tent, has especially attracted attention. terests of Catholicism by this circuitous
The Indian Timurtis, as also the Chinese but scientifically interesting method,
abstraction of the Trinity, has furnished
INTRODUCTION 59
supposed by it as historically established. That advanced con-
dition of the knowledge of God, and of other scientific, e.g.,
astronomical, knowledge (such as has been falsely attributed to
the Hindoos) ; and the assertion that such a condition occurred
at the very beginning of History — or that the religions of
various nations were traditionally derived from it, and have
developed themselves in degeneracy and depravation (as is rep-
resented in the rudely-conceived so-called " Emanation Sys-
tem ") ; — all these are suppositions which neither have, nor —
if we may contrast with their arbitrary subjective origin, the
true conception of History — can attain historical confirmation.
The only consistent and worthy method which philosophical
investigation can adopt is to take up History where Rationality
begins to manifest itself in the actual conduct of the World's
affairs (not where it is merely an undeveloped potentiality) —
where a condition of things is present in which it realizes itself
in consciousness, will and action. The inorganic existence of
Spirit — that of abstract Freedom — unconscious torpidity in re-
spect to good and evil (and consequently to laws), or, if we
please to term it so, " blessed ignorance " — is itself not a subject
of History. Natural, and at the same time religious morality, is
the piety of the family. In this social relation, morality consists
in the members behaving towards each other not as individuals
— possessing an independent will ; not as persons. The Family
therefore, is excluded from that process of development in which
History takes its rise. But when this self-involved spiritual
Unity steps beyond this circle of feeling and natural love, and
first attains the consciousness of personality, we have that dark,
dull centre of indifference, in which neither Nature. nor Spirit
is open and transparent ; and for which Nature and Spirit can
become open and transparent only by means of a further proc-
ess — a very lengthened culture of that Will at length become
self-conscious. Consciousness alone is clearness; and is that
alone for which God (or any other existence) can be revealed.
In its true form — in absolute universality — nothing can be
manifested except to consciousness made percipient of it.
Freedom is nothing but the recognition and adoption of such
universal substantial objects as Right and Law, and the produc-
tion of a reality that is accordant with them — the State. Na-
tions may have passed a long life before arriving at this their
destination, and during this period, they may have attained
Vol. 23 D — Classics
60 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
considerable culture in some directions. This ante-historical
period — consistently with what has been said — lies out of our
plan ; whether a real history followed it, or the peoples in ques-
tion never attained a political constitution. — It is a great dis-
covery in history — as of a new world — which-has been made
within rather more than the last twenty years, respecting the
Sanscrit and the connection of the European languages with
it. In particular, the connection of the German and Indian
peoples has been demonstrated, with as much certainty as such
subjects allow of. Even at the present time we know of peoples
which scarcely form a society, much less a State, but that have
been long known as existing; while with regard to others,
which in their advanced condition excite our especial interest,
tradition reaches beyond the record of the founding of the State,
and they experienced many changes prior to that epoch. In
the connection just referred to, between the languages of na-
tions so widely separated, we have a result before us, which
proves the diffusion of those nations from Asia as a centre, and
the so dissimilar development of what had been originally re-
lated, as an incontestable fact ; not as an inference deduced by
that favorite method of combining, and reasoning from, cir-
cumstances grave and trivial, which has already enriched and
will continue to enrich history with so many fictions given out
as facts. But that apparently so extensive range of events lies
beyond the pale of history ; in fact preceded it.
In our language the term History * unites the objective with
the subjective side, and denotes quite as much the historia rerum
gestarum, as the res gestce themselves ; on the other hand it
comprehends not less what has happened, than the narration of
what has happened. This union of the two meanings we must
regard as of a higher order than mere outward accident ; we
must suppose historical narrations to have appeared contem-
poraneously with historical deeds and events. It is an internal
vital principle common to both that produces them synchron-
ously. Family memorials, patriarchal traditions, have an inter-
est confined to the family and the clan. The uniform course
of events which such a condition implies, is no subject of serious
remembrance ; though distinct transactions or turns of fortune,
may rouse Mnemosyne to form conceptions of them — in the
same way as love and the religious emotions provoke imagina-
• German, " Gescbicbte " from " Geschehen," to happen.— Ed.
INTRODUCTION 61
tion to give shape to a previously formless impulse. But it is
the State which first presents subject-matter that is not only
adapted to the prose of History, but involves the production of
such history in the very progress of its own being. Instead
of merely subjective mandates on the part of government-
sufficing for the needs of the moment — a community that is
acquiring a stable existence, and exalting itself into a State,
requires formal commands and laws — comprehensive and uni-
versally binding prescriptions ; and thus produces a record as
well as an interest concerned with intelligent, definite — and,
in their results — lasting transactions and occurrences; on
which Mnemosyne, for the behoof of the perennial object of the
formation and constitution of the State, is impelled to confer
perpetuity. Profound sentiments generally, such as that of
love, as also religious intuition and its conceptions, are in them-
selves complete — constantly present and satisfying; but that
outward' existence of a political constitution which is enshrined
in its rational laws and customs, is an imperfect Present ; and
cannot be thoroughly understood without a knowledge of the
past.
The periods — whether we suppose them to be centuries or
millennia — that were passed by nations before history was writ-
ten among them — and which may have been filled with revo-
lutions, nomadic wanderings, and the strangest mutations — ■
are on that very account destitute of objective history, because
they present no subjective history, no annals. We need not
suppose that the records of such periods have accidentally per-
ished ; rather, because they were not possible, do we find them
wanting. Only in a State cognizant of Laws, can distinct trans-
actions take place, accompanied by such a clear consciousness
of them as supplies the ability and suggests the necessity of an
enduring record. It strikes every one, in beginning to form
an acquaintance with the treasures of Indian literature, that a
land so rich in intellectual products, and those of the profound-
est order of thought, has no History ; and in this respect con-
trasts most strongly with China — an empire possessing one so
remarkable, one going back to the most ancient times. India
has not only ancient books relating to religion, and splendid-
poetical productions, but also ancient codes ; the existence of
which latter kind of literature has been mentioned as a condi-
tion necessary to the origination of History — and yet History
62 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
itself is not found. But in that country the impulse of organiza-
tion, in beginning to develop social distinctions, was imme-
diately petrified in the merely natural classification according
to castes; so that although the laws concern themselves with
civil rights, they make even these dependent on natural dis-
tinctions ; and are especially occupied with determining the
relations (Wrongs rather than Rights) of those classes towards
each other, i.e. the privileges of the higher over the lower. Con-
sequently, the element of morality is banished from the pomp
of Indian life and from its political institutions. Where that
iron bondage of distinctions derived from nature prevails, the
connection of society is nothing but wild arbitrariness — tran-
sient activity — or rather the play of violent emotion without
any goal of advancement or development. Therefore no intel-
ligent reminiscence, no object for Mnemosyne presents itself;
and imagination — confused though profound — expatiates in a
region, which, to be capable of History, must have had an aim
within the domain of Reality, and, at the same time, of sub-
stantial Freedom.
Since such are the conditions indispensable to a history, it
has happened that the growth of Families to Clans, of Clans to
Peoples, and their local diffusion consequent upon this numer-
ical increase — a series of facts which itself suggests so many
instances of social complication, war, revolution, and ruin — a
process which is so rich in interest, and so comprehensive in
extent — has occurred without giving rise to History ; more-
over, that the extension and organic growth of the empire of
articulate sounds has itself remained voiceless and dumb — a
stealthy, unnoticed advance. It is a fact revealed by philo-
logical monuments, that languages, during a rude condition of
the nations that have spoken them, have been very highly de-
veloped ; that the human understanding occupied this theoret-
ical region with great ingenuity and completeness. For Gram-
mar, in its extended and consistent form, is the work of thought,
which makes its categories distinctly visible therein. It is,
moreover, a fact, that with advancing social and political civili-
zation, this systematic completeness of intelligence suffers
attrition, and language thereupon becomes poorer and ruder:
a singular phenomenon — that the progress towards a more
highly intellectual condition, while expanding and cultivating
rationality, should disregard that intelligent amplitude and ex-
INTRODUCTION 63
pressiveness — should find it an obstruction and contrive to do
without it. Speech is the act of theoretic intelligence in a
special sense ; it is its external manifestation. Exercises of
memory and imagination without language, are direct, [non-
speculative] manifestations. But this act of theoretic intelli-
gence itself, as also its subsequent development, and the more
concrete class of facts connected with it — viz. the spreading
of peoples over the earth, their separation from each other,
their comminglings and wanderings — remain involved in the
obscurity of a voiceless past. They are not acts of Will becom-
ing self-conscious — of Freedom, mirroring itself in a phenom-
enal form, and creating for itself a proper reality. Not par-
taking of this element of substantial, veritable existence, those
nations — notwithstanding the development of language among
them — never advanced to the possession of a history. The rapid
growth of language, and the progress and dispersion of Na-
tions, assume importance and interest for concrete Reason,
only when they have come in contact with States, or begin to
form political constitutions themselves.
After these remarks, relating to the form of the commencement
of the World's History, and to that ante-historical period which
must be excluded from it, we have to state the direction of its
course : though here only formally. The further definition of
the subject in the concrete comes under the head of arrange-
ment.
Universal history — as already demonstrated — shows the de-
velopment of the consciousness of Freedom on the part of
Spirit, and of the consequent realization of that Freedom. This
development implies a gradation — a series of increasingly
adequate expressions or manifestations of Freedom, which re-
sult from its Idea. The logical, and — as still more prominent
— the dialectical nature of the Idea in general, viz. that it is self-
determined — that it assumes successive forms which it succes-
sively transcends ; and by this very process of transcending
its earlier stages gains an affirmative, and, in fact, a richer and
more concrete shape; — this necessity of its nature, and the
necessary series of pure abstract forms which the Idea succes-
sively assumes — is exhibited in the department of Logic. Here
we need adopt only one of its results, viz. that every step in the
process, as differing from any other, has its determinate peculiar
principle. In history this principle is idiosyncrasy of Spirit —
64 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
peculiar National Genius. It is within the limitations of this
idiosyncrasy that the spirit of the nation, concretely manifested,
expresses every aspect of its consciousness and will — the whole
cycle of its realization. Its religion, its polity, its ethics, its
legislation, and even its science, art, and mechanical skill, all
bear its stamp. These special peculiarities find their key in
that common peculiarity — the particular principle that charac-
terizes a people ; as, on the other hand, in the facts which His-
tory presents in detail, that common characteristic principle
may be detected. That such or such a specific quality consti-
tutes the peculiar genius of a people, is the element of our in-
quiry which must be derived from experience, and historically
proved. To accomplish this, pre-supposes not only a disci-
plined faculty of abstraction, but an intimate acquaintance with
the Idea. The investigator must be familiar a priori (if we like
to call it so), with the whole circle of conceptions to which the
principles in question belong — just as Keppler (to name the
most illustrious example in this mode of philosophizing) must
have been familiar a priori with ellipses, with cubes and squares,
and with ideas of their relations, before he could discover, from
the empirical data, those immortal " Laws " of his, which are
none other than forms of thought pertaining to those classes of
conceptions. He who is unfamiliar with the science that em-
braces these abstract elementary conceptions, is as little capable
— though he may have gazed on the firmament and the mo-
tions of the celestial bodies for a lifetime — of understanding
those Laws, as of discovering them. From this want of ac-
quaintance with the ideas that relate to the development of
Freedom, proceed a part of those objections which are brought
against the philosophical consideration of a science usually re-
garded as one of mere experience ; the so-called a, priori method,
and the attempt to insinuate ideas into the empirical data of
history, being the chief points in the indictment. Where this
deficiency exists, such conceptions appear alien — not lying
within the object of investigation. To minds whose training
has been narrow and merely subjective — which have not an
acquaintance and familiarity with ideas — they are something
strange — not embraced in the notion and conception of the
subject which their limited intellect forms. Hence the state-
ment that Philosophy does not understand such sciences. It
must, indeed, allow that it has not that kind of Understanding
INTRODUCTION 65
which is the prevailing one in the domain of those sciences,
that it does not proceed according to the categories of such
Understanding, but according to the categories of Reason —
though at the same time recognizing that Understanding, and
its true value and position. It must be observed that in this
very process of scientific Understanding, it is of importance that
the essential should be distinguished and brought into relief
in contrast with the so-called non-essential. But in order to
render this possible, we must know what is essential; and that is
— in view of the History of the World in general — the Con-
sciousness of Freedom, and the phases which this conscious-
ness assumes in developing itself. The bearing of historical
facts on this category, is their bearing on the truly Essential.
Of the difficulties stated, and the opposition exhibited to com-
prehensive conceptions in science, part must be referred to the
inability to grasp and understand Ideas. If in Natural History
some monstrous hybrid growth is alleged as an objection to
the recognition of clear and indubitable classes or species, a
sufficient reply is furnished by a sentiment often vaguely urged
— that " the exception confirms the rule " ; i.e. that is the part
of a well-defined rule, to show the conditions in which it applies,
or the deficiency or hybridism of cases that are abnormal.
Mere Nature is too weak to keep its genera and species pure,
when conflicting with alien elementary influences. If, e.g. on
considering the human organization in its concrete aspect, we
assert that brain, heart, and so forth are essential to its organic
life, some miserable abortion may be adduced, which has on the
whole the human form, or parts of it — which has been conceived
in a human body and has breathed after birth therefrom — in
which nevertheless no brain and no heart is found. If such an
instance is quoted against the general conception of a human
being — the objector persisting in using the name, coupled with
a superficial idea respecting it — it can be proved that a real,
concrete human being is a truly different object ; that such a
being must have a brain in its head, and a heart in its breast.
A similar process of reasoning is adopted, in reference to the
correct assertion that genius, talent, moral virtues, and senti-
ments, and piety, may be found in every zone, under all political
constitutions and conditions; in confirmation of which ex-
amples are forthcoming in abundance. If, in this assertion,
the accompanying distinctions are intended to be repudiated
66 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
as unimportant or non-essential, reflection evidently limits
itself to abstract categories ; and ignores the specialities of the
object in question, which certainly fall under no principle
recognized by such categories. That intellectual position which
adopts such merely formal points of view, presents a vast field
for ingenious questions, erudite views, and striking compari-
sons; for profound seeming reflections and declamations,
which may be rendered so much the more brilliant in proportion
as the subject they refer to is indefinite, and are susceptible of
new and varied forms in inverse proportion to the importance
of the results that can be gained from them, and the certainty
and rationality of their issues. Under such an aspect the well-
known Indian Epopees may be compared with the Homeric ;
perhaps — since it is the vastness of the imagination by which
poetical genius proves itself — preferred to them ; as, on ac-
count of the similarity of single strokes of imagination in the
attributes of the divinities, it has been contended that Greek
mythological forms may be recognized in those of India.
Similarly the Chinese philosophy, as adopting the One [to «/]
as its basis, has been alleged to be the same as at a later period
appeared as Eleatic philosophy and as the Spinozistic System ;
while in virtue of its expressing itself also in abstract numbers
and lines, Pythagorean and Christian principles have been sup-
posed to be detected in it. Instances of bravery and indomit-
able courage — traits of magnanimity, of self-denial, and self-
sacrifice, which are found among the most savage and the most
pusillanimous nations — are regarded as sufficient to support
the view that in these nations as much of social virtue and moral-
ity may be found as in the most civilized Christian states, or
even more. And on this ground a doubt has been suggested
whether in the progress of history and of general culture man-
kind have become better ; whether their morality has been in-
creased — morality being regarded in a subjective aspect and
view, as founded on what the agent holds to be right and wrong,
good and evil ; not on a principle which is considered to be in
and for itself right and good, or a crime and evil, or on a partic-
ular religion believed to be the true one.
We may fairly decline on this occasion the task of tracing the
formalism and error of such a view, and establishing the true
principles of morality, or rather of social virtue in opposition
to false morality. For the History of the World occupies a
INTRODUCTION 67
higher ground than that on which morality has properly its
position; which is personal character — the conscience of in-
dividuals — their particular will and mode of action ; these have
a value, imputation, reward or punishment proper to them-
selves. What the absolute aim of Spirit requires and accom-
plishes — what Providence does — transcends the obligations,
and the liability to imputation and the ascription of good or bad
motives, which attach to individuality in virtue of its social
relations. They who on moral grounds, and consequently
with noble intention, have resisted that which the advance of
the Spiritual Idea makes necessary, stand higher in moral worth
than those whose crimes have been turned into the means —
under the direction of a superior principle — of realizing the
purposes of that principle. But in such revolutions both parties
generally stand within the limits of the same circle of transient
and corruptible existence. Consequently it is only a formal
rectitude — deserted by the living Spirit and by God — which
those who stand upon ancient right and order maintain. The
deeds of great men, who are the Individuals of the World's
History, thus appear not only justified in view of that intrinsic
result of which they were not conscious, but also from the point
of view occupied by the secular moralist. But looked at from
this point, moral claims that are irrelevant, must not be brought
into collision with world-historical deeds and their accomplish-
ment. The Litany of private virtues — modesty, humility,
philanthropy and forbearance — must not be raised against
them. The History of the World might, on principle, entirely
ignore the circle within which morality and the so much talked
of distinction between the moral and the politic lies — not only
in abstaining from judgments, for the principles involved, and
the necessary reference of the deeds in question to those prin-
ciples, are a sufficient judgment of them — but in leaving In-
dividuals quite out of view and unmentioned. What it has to
record is the activity of the Spirit of Peoples, so that the indi-
vidual forms which that spirit has assumed in the sphere of out-
ward reality, might be left to the delineation of special histories.
The same kind of formalism avails itself in its peculiar man-
ner of the indefiniteness attaching to genius, poetry, and even
philosophy ; thinks equally that it finds these everywhere. We
have here products of reflective thought ; and it is familiarity
with those general conceptions which single out and name real
68 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
distinctions without fathoming the true depth of the matter-
that we call Culture. It is something merely formal, inasmuch
as it aims at nothing more than the analysis of the subject, what-
ever it be, into its constituent parts, and the comprehension of
these in their logical definitions and forms. It is not the free
universality of conception necessary for making an abstract
principle the object of consciousness. Such a consciousness of
Thought itself, and of its forms isolated from a particular ob-
ject, is Philosophy. This has, indeed, the condition of its ex-
istence in culture ; that condition being the taking up of the ob-
ject of thought, and at the same time clothing it with the form
of universality, in such a way that the material content and the
form given by the intellect are held in an inseparable state ; —
inseparable to such a degree that the object in question — which,
by the analysis of one conception into a multitude of concep-
tions, is enlarged to an incalculable treasure of thought — is re-
garded as a merely empirical datum in whose formation thought
has had no share.
But it is quite as much an act of Thought — of the Under-
standing in particular — to embrace in one simple conception
object which of itself comprehends a concrete and large sig-
nificance (as Earth, Man — Alexander or Caesar) and to desig-
nate it by one word — as to resolve such a conception — duly to
isolate in idea the conceptions which it contains, and to give
them particular names. And in reference to the view which
gave occasion to what has just been said, thus much will be
clear — that as reflection produces what we include under the
general terms Genius, Talent, Art, Science — formal culture
on every grade of intellectual development, not only can, but
must grow, and attain a mature bloom, while the grade in
question is developing itself to a State, and on this basis of
civilization is advancing to intelligent reflection and to gen-
eral forms of thought — as in laws, so in regard to all else. In
the very association of men in a state, lies the necessity of
formal culture — consequently of the rise of the sciences and of
a cultivated poetry and art generally. The arts designated
" plastic," require besides, even in their technical aspect, the
civilized association of men. The poetic art — which has less
need of external requirements and means, and which has the
element of immediate existence, the voice, as its material — steps
forth with great boldness and with matured expression, even
INTRODUCTION 69
under the conditions presented by a people not yet united in a
political combination ; since, as remarked above, language at-
tains on its own particular ground a high intellectual develop-
ment, prior to the commencement of civilization.
Philosophy also must make its appearance where political
life exists ; since that in virtue of which any series of phenom-
ena is reduced within the sphere of culture, as above stated,
is the Form strictly proper to Thought ; and thus for philoso-
phy, which is nothing other than the consciousness of this form
itself — the Thinking of Thinking — the material of which its
edifice is to be constructed, is already prepared by general cul-
ture. If in the development of the State itself, periods are neces-
sitated which impel the soul of nobler natures to seek refuge
from the Present in ideal regions — in order to find in them that
harmony with itself which it can no longer enjoy in the dis-
cordant real world, where the reflective intelligence attacks all
that is holy and deep, which had been spontaneously inwrought
into the religion, laws and manners of nations, and brings them
down and attenuates them to abstract godless generalities —
Thought will be compelled to become Thinking Reason, with
the view of effecting in its own element the restoration of its
principles from the ruin to which they had been brought.
We find then, it is true, among all world-historical peoples,
poetry, plastic art, science, even philosophy; but not only is
there a diversity in style and bearing generally, but still more
remarkably in subject-matter; and this is a diversity of the
most important kind, affecting the rationality of that subject-
matter. It is useless for a pretentious aesthetic criticism to de-
mand that our good pleasure should not be made the rule for
the matter — the substantial part of their contents — and to main-
tain that it is the beautiful form as such, the grandeur of the
fancy, and so forth, which fine art aims at, and which must be
considered and enjoyed by a liberal taste and cultivated mind.
A healthy intellect does not tolerate such abstractions, and can-
not assimilate productions of the kind above referred to.
Granted that the Indian Epopees might be placed on a level
with the Homeric, on account of a number of those qualities of
form — grandeur of invention and imaginative power, liveliness
of images and emotions, and beauty of diction ; yet the infinite
difference of matter remains ; consequently one of substantial
importance and involving the interest of Reason, which is im-
yo PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
mediately concerned with the consciousness of the Idea of Free-
dom, and its expression in individuals. There is not only a
classical form, but a classical order of subject-matter ; and in a
work of art form and subject-matter are so closely united that
the former can only be classical to the extent ta,which the latter
is so. With a fantastical, indeterminate material — and Rule is
the essence of Reason — the form becomes measureless and form-
less, or mean and contracted. In the same way, in that com-
parison of the various systems of philosophy of which we have
already spoken, the only point of importance is overlooked,
namely, the character of that Unity which is found alike in the
Chinese, the Eleatic, and the Spinozistic philosophy — the dis-
tinction between the recognition of that Unity as abstract and
as concrete — concrete to the extent of being a unity in and by
itself — a unity synonymous with Spirit. But that co-ordina-
tion proves that it recognizes only such an abstract unity ; so
that while it gives judgment respecting philosophy, it is ig-
norant of that very point which constitutes the interest of
philosophy.
But there are also spheres which, amid all the variety that is
presented in the substantial content of a particular form of
culture, remain the same. The difference above-mentioned in
art, science, philosophy, concerns the thinking Reason and
Freedom, which is the self-consciousness of the former, and
which has the same one root with Thought. As it is not the
brute, but only the man that thinks, he only — and only because
he is a thinking being — has Freedom. His consciousness im-
ports this, that the individual comprehends itself as a person,
that is, recognizes itself in its single existence as possessing
universality — as capable of abstraction from, and of surren-
dering all speciality; and, therefore, as inherently infinite.
Consequently those spheres of intelligence which lie beyond the
limits of this consciousness are a common ground among those
substantial distinctions. Even morality, which is so intimately
connected with the consciousness of freedom, can be very pure
while that consciousness is still wanting ; as far, that is to say,
as it expresses duties and rights only as objective commands ;
or even as far as it remains satisfied with the merely formal ele-
vation of the soul — the surrender of the sensual, and of all
sensual motives — in a purely negative, self-denying fashion.
The Chinese morality — since Europeans have become ac-
INTRODUCTION 71
quainted with it and with the writings of Confucius — has ob-
tained the greatest praise and proportionate attention from
those who are familiar with the Christian morality. There is a
similar acknowledgment of the sublimity with which the Indian
religion and poetry, (a statement that must, however, be limited
to the higher kind), but especially the Indian philosophy, ex-
patiate upon and demand the removal and sacrifice of sensual-
ity. Yet both these nations are, it must be confessed, entirely
wanting in the essential consciousness of the Idea of Freedom.
To the Chinese their moral laws are just like natural laws —
external, positive commands — claims established by force —
compulsory duties or rules of courtesy towards each other.
Freedom, through which alone the essential determinations of
Reason become moral sentiments, is wanting. Morality is a
political affair, and its laws are administered by officers of gov-
ernment and legal tribunals. Their treatises upon it, (which
are not law books, but are certainly addressed to the subjective
will and individual disposition) read — as do the moral writings
of the Stoics — like a string of commands stated as necessary for
realizing the goal of happiness ; so that it seems to be left free to
men, on their part, to adopt such commands — to observe them
or not ; while the conception of an abstract subject, " a wise
man " [Sapiens] forms the culminating point among the Chi-
nese, as also among the Stoic moralists. Also in the Indian doc-
trine of the renunciation of the sensuality of desires and earthly
interests, positive moral freedom is not the object and end, but
the annihilation of consciousness — spiritual and even physical
privation of life.
It is the concrete spirit of a people which we have distinctly
to recognize, and since it is Spirit it can only be comprehended
spiritually, that is, by thought. It is this alone which takes the
lead in all the deeds and tendencies of that people, and which
is occupied in realizing itself — in satisfying its ideal and becom-
ing self-conscious — for its great business is self-production.
Butjor spirit, the highest attainment is self-knowledge; an ad-
vance not only to the intuition, but to the thought— the dear
conception of itself. This it must and is also destined to ac-
complish ; but the accomplishment is at the same time its dis
solution, and the rise of another spirit, another world-historical
people, another epoch of Universal History. This transition
and connection lead us to the connection of the whole — the
72 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
idea of the World's History as such — which we have now to
consider more closely, and of which we have to give a represen-
tation.
History in general is therefore the development of Spirit in
Time, as Nature is the development of the Idea in Space.
If then we cast a glance over the World's-History generally,
we see a vast picture of changes and transactions ; of infinitely
manifold forms of peoples, states, individuals, in unresting suc-
cession. Everything that can enter into and interest the soul
of man — all our sensibility to goodness, beauty, and greatness
— is called into play. On every hand aims are adopted and
pursued, which we recognize, whose accomplishment we desire
— we hope and fear for them. In all these occurrences and
changes we behold human action and suffering predominant;
everywhere something akin to ourselves, and therefore every-
where something that excites our interest for or against. Some-
times it attracts us by beauty, freedom, and rich variety,
sometimes by energy such as enables even vice to make itself in-
teresting. Sometimes we see the more comprehensive mass of
some general interest advancing with comparative slowness,
and subsequently sacrificed to an infinite complication of trifling
circumstances, and so dissipated into atoms. Then, again, with
a vast expenditure of power a trivial result is produced ; while
from what appears unimportant a tremendous issue proceeds.
On every hand there is the motliest throng of events drawing
us within the circle of its interest, and when one combination
vanishes another immediately appears in its place.
The general thought — the category which first presents itself
in this restless mutation of individuals and peoples, existing for
a time and then vanishing — is that of change at large. The
sight of the ruins of some ancient sovereignty directly leads
us to contemplate this thought of change in its negative aspect
What traveller among the ruins of Carthage, of Palmyra, Per-
sepolis, or Rome, has not been stimulated to reflections on the
transiency of kingdoms and men, and to sadness at the thought
of a vigorous and rich life now departed — a sadness which
does not expend itself on personal losses and the uncertainty
of one's own undertakings, but is a disinterested sorrow at the
decay of a splendid and highly cultured national life ! But the
next consideration which allies itself with that of change, is,
that change while it imports dissolution, involves at the same
INTRODUCTION 73
time the rise of a new life — that while death is the issue of life,
life is also the issue of death. This is a grand conception; one
which the Oriental thinkers attained, and which is perhaps the
highest in their metaphysics. In the idea of Metempsychosis
we find it evolved in its relation to individual existence; but
a myth more generally known, is that of the Phoenix as a type
of the Life of Nature; eternally preparing for itself its funeral
pile, and consuming itself upon it ; but so that from its ashes
is produced the new, renovated, fresh life. But this image is
only Asiatic; oriental not occidental. Spirit — consuming the
envelope of its existence — does not merely pass into another
envelope, nor rise rejuvenescent from the ashes of its previous
form; it comes forth exalted, glorified, a purer spirit. It cer-
tainly makes war upon itself — consumes its own existence ; but
in this very destruction it works up that existence into a new
form, and each successive phase becomes in its turn a material,
working on which it exalts itself to a new grade.
If we consider Spirit in this aspect — regarding its changes
not merely as rejuvenescent transitions, i.e., returns to the same
form, but rather as manipulations of itself, by which it multi-
plies the material for future endeavors — we see it exerting itself
in a variety of modes and directions; developing its powers
and gratifying its desires in a variety which is inexhaustible;
because every one of its creations, in which it has already found
gratification, meets it anew as material, and is a new stimulus
to plastic activity. The abstract conception of mere change
gives place to the thought of Spirit manifesting, developing,
and perfecting its powers in every direction which its manifold
nature can follow. What pbwers it inherently possesses we
learn from the variety of products and formations which it
originates. In this pleasurable activity, it has to do only with
itself. As involved with the conditions of mere nature — in-
ternal and external— it will indeed meet in these not only oppo-
sition and hindrance, but will often see its endeavors thereby
fail; often sink under the complications in which it is entan-
gled either by Nature or by itself. But in such case it perishes
in fulfilling its own destiny and proper function, and even thus
exhibits the spectacle of self-demonstration as spiritual activity.
The very essence of Spirit is activity; it realizes its poten-
tiality — makes itself its own deed, its own work — and thus it
becomes an object to itself ; contemplates itself as an objective
74 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
existence. Thus is it with the Spirit of a people : it is a Spirit
having strictly denned characteristics, which erects itself into
an objective world, that exists and persists in a particular re-
ligious form of worship, customs, constitution, and political
laws — in the whole complex of its institutions — in the events
and transactions that make up its history. That is its work —
that is what this particular Nation is. Nations are what their
deeds are. Every Englishman will say: We are the men
who navigate the ocean, and have the commerce of the world ;
to whom the East Indies belong and their riches; who have
a parliament, juries, etc. — The relation of the individual to
that Spirit is that he appropriates to himself this substantial
existence ; that it becomes his character and capability, enabling
him to have a definite place in the world — to be something.
For he finds the being of the people to which he belongs an al-
ready established, firm world — objectively present to him — with
which he has to incorporate himself. In this its work, there-
fore^ — its world — the Spirit of the people enjoys its existence
and finds its satisfaction. — A Nation is moral — virtuous — vig-
orous — while it is engaged in realizing its grand objects, and
defends its work against external violence during the process
of giving to its purposes an objective existence. The contra-
diction between its potential, subjective being — its inner aim
and life — and its actual being is removed ; it has attained full
reality, has itself objectively present to it. But this having
been attained, the activity displayed by the Spirit of the people
in question is no longer needed ; it has its desire. The Nation
can still accomplish much in war and peace at home and abroad ;
but the living substantial soul itself may be said to have ceased
its activity. The essential, supreme interest has consequently
vanished from its life, for interest is present only where there
is opposition. The nation lives the same kind of life as the
individual when passing from maturity to old age — in the
enjoyment of itself — in the satisfaction of being exactly what
it desired and was able to attain. Although its imagination
might have transcended that limit, it nevertheless abandoned
any such aspirations as objects of actual endeavor, if the real
world was less than favorable to their attainment — and re-
stricted its aim by the conditions thus imposed. This mere
customary life (the watch wound up and going on of itself) is
that which brings on natural death. Custom is activity with-
INTRODUCTION 75
out opposition, for which there remains only a formal dura-
tion ; in which the fulness and zest that originally character-
ized the aim of life are out of the question — a merely external
sensuous existence which has ceased to throw itself enthusi-
astically into its object. Thus perish individuals, thus perish
peoples by a natural death; and though the latter may con-
tinue in being, it is an existence without intellect or vitality;
having no need of its institutions, because the need for them
is satisfied — a political nullity and tedium. In order that a
truly universal interest may arise, the Spirit of a People must
advance to the adoption of some new purpose; but whence
can this new purpose originate? It would be a higher, more
comprehensive conception of itself — a transcending of its prin-
ciple — but this very act would involve a principle of a new
order, a new National Spirit.
Such a new principle does in fact enter into the Spirit of
a people that has arrived at full development and self-realiza-
tion; it dies not a simply natural death — for it is not a mere
single individual, but a spiritual, generic life; in its case nat-
ural death appears to imply destruction through its own agency.
The reason of this difference from the single natural individual,
is that the Spirit of a people exists as a genus, and consequently
carries within it its own negation, in the very generality which
characterizes it. A people can only die a violent death when
it has become naturally dead in itself, as, e.g., the German Im-
perial Cities, the German Imperial Constitution.
It is not of the nature of the all-pervading Spirit to die this
merely natural death; it does not simply sink into the senile
life of mere custom, but — as being a National Spirit belonging
to Universal History — attains to the consciousness of what
its work is; it attains to a conception of itself. In fact it is
world-historical only in so far as a universal principle has lain;
in its fundamental element — in its grand aim: only so far is
the work which such a spirit produces, a moral, political or-
ganization. If it be mere desires that impel nations to activity,
such deeds pass over without leaving a trace; or their traces
are only ruin and destruction. Thus, it was first Chronos —
Time — that ruled; the Golden Age, without moral products;
and what was produced — the offspring of that Chronos — was
devoured by it. It was Jupiter — from whose head Minerva
sprang, and to whose circle of divinities belong Apollo and
76 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the Muses — that first put a constraint upon Time, and set a
bound to its principle of decadence. He is the Political god,
who produced a moral work — the State.
In the very element of an achievement the quality of gen-
erality, of thought, is contained; without thought it has no
objectivity; that is its basis. The highest point in the devel-
opment of a people is this — to have gained a conception of its
life and condition — to have reduced its laws, its ideas of justice
and morality to a science; for in this unity [of the objective
and subjective] lies the most intimate unity that Spirit can
attain to in and with itself. In its work it is employed in ren-
dering itself an object of its own contemplation; but it cannot
develop itself objectively in its essential nature, except in think-
ing itself.
At this point, then, Spirit is acquainted with its principles —
the general character of its acts. But at the same time, in
virtue of its very generality, this work of thought is different
in point of form from the actual achievements of the national
genius, and from the vital agency by which those achievements
have been performed. We have then before us a real and an
ideal existence of the Spirit of the Nation. If we wish to gain
the general idea and conception of what the Greeks were, we
find it in Sophocles and Aristophanes, in Thucydides and Plato.
In these individuals the Greek spirit conceived and thought
itself. This is the profounder kind of satisfaction which the
Spirit of a people attains ; but it is " ideal," and distinct from
its " real " activity.
At such a time, therefore, we are sure to see a people finding
satisfaction in the idea of virtue ; putting talk about virtue
partly side by side with actual virtue, but partly in the place
of it. On the other hand pure, universal thought, since its
nature is universality, is apt to bring the Special and Spontane-
ous — Belief, Trust, Customary Morality — to reflect upon itself,
and its primitive simplicity ; to show up the limitation with
which it is fettered — partly suggesting reasons for renouncing
duties, partly itself demanding reasons, and the connection of
such requirements with Universal Thought ; and not finding
that connection, seeking to impeach the authority of duty gen-
erally, as destitute of a sound foundation.
At the same time the isolation of individuals from each other
and from the Whole makes its appearance; their aggressive
INTRODUCTION 77
selfishness and vanity; their seeking personal advantage and
consulting this at the expense of the State at large. That in-
ward principle in transcending its outward manifestations is
subjective also in form — viz., selfishness and corruption in the
unbound passions and egotistic interests of men.
Zeus, therefore, who is represented as having put a limit
to the devouring agency of Time, and stayed this transiency by
having established something inherently and independently
durable — Zeus and his race are themselves swallowed up, and
that by the very power that produced them — the principle of
thought, perception, reasoning, insight derived from rational
grounds, and the requirement of such grounds.
Time is the negative element in the sensuous world. Thought
is the same negativity, but it is the deepest, the infinite form
of it, in which therefore all existence generally is dissolved;
first Unite existence — determinate, limited form : but existence
generally, in its objective character, is limited ; it appears there-
fore as a mere datum — something immediate — authority; —
and is either intrinsically finite and limited, or presents itself
as a limit for the thinking subject, and its infinite reflection
on itself [unlimited abstraction].
But first we must observe how the life which proceeds from
death, is itself, on the other hand, only individual life; so
that, regarding the species as the real and substantial in this
vicissitude, the perishing of the individual is a regress of the
species into individuality. The perpetuation of the race is,
therefore, none other than the monotonous repetition of the
same kind of existence. Further, we must remark how per-
ception — the comprehension of being by thought — is the source
and birthplace of a new, and in fact higher form, in a principle
which while it preserves, dignifies its material. For Thought
is that Universal — that Species which is immortal, which pre-
serves identity with itself. The particular form of Spirit not
merely passes away in the world by natural causes in Time,
but is annulled in the automatic self-mirroring activity of con-
sciousness. Because this annulling is an activity of Thought,
it is at the same time conservative and elevating in its opera-
tion. While then, on the one side, Spirit annuls the reality, the
permanence of that which it is, it gains on the other side, the
essence, the Thought, the Universal element of that which it
Only was [its transient conditions]. Its principle is no longer
78 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
that immediate import and aim which it was previously, but
the essence of that import and aim.
The result of this process is then that Spirit, in rendering
itself objective and making this its being an object of thought,
on the one hand destroys the determinate form of its being,
on the other hand gains a comprehension of the universal ele-
ment which it involves, and thereby gives a new form to its
inherent principle. In virtue of this, the substantial character
of the National Spirit has been altered — that is, its principle
has risen into another, and in fact a higher principle.
It is of the highest importance in apprehending and com-
prehending History to have and to understand the thought
involved in this transition. The individual traverses as a unity
various grades of development, and remains the same indi-
vidual ; in like manner also does a people, till the Spirit which
it embodies reaches the grade of universality. In this point
lies the fundamental, the Ideal necessity of transition. This
is the soul — the essential consideration — of the philosophical
comprehension of History.
Spirit is essentially the result of its own activity : its activity
is the transcending of immediate, simple, unreflected existence
— the negation of that existence, and the returning into itself.
We may compare it with the seed ; for with this the plant be-
gins, yet it is also the result of the plant's entire life. But
the weak side of life is exhibited in the fact that the commence-
ment and the result are disjoined from each other. Thus also
is it in the life of individuals and peoples. The life of a people
ripens a certain fruit ; its activity aims at the complete mani-
festation of the principle which it embodies. But this fruit does
not fall back into the bosom of the people that produced and
matured it ; on the contrary, it becomes a poison-draught to it.
That poison-draught it cannot let alone, for it has an insatiable
thirst for it : the taste of the draught is its annihilation, though
at the same time the rise of a new principle.
We have already discussed the final aim of this progression.
The principles of the successive phases of Spirit that animate
the Nations in a necessitated gradation, are themselves only
steps in the development of the one universal Spirit, which
through them elevates and completes itself to a self-compre-
hending totality.
While we are thus concerned exclusively with the Idea of
INTRODUCTION 79
Spirit, and in the History of the World regard everything
as only its manifestation, we have, in traversing the past —
however extensive its periods — only to do with what is present;
for philosophy, as occupying itself with the True, has to do
with the eternally present. Nothing in the past is lost for it,
for the Idea is ever present ; Spirit is immortal ; with it there
is no past, no future, but an essential now. This necessarily
implies that the present form of Spirit comprehends within
it all earlier steps. These have indeed unfolded themselves
in succession independently; but what Spirit is it has always
been essentially; distinctions are only the development of this
essential nature. The life of the ever present Spirit is a circle
of progressive embodiments, which looked at in one aspect
still exist beside each other, and only as looked at from another
point of view appear as past. The grades which Spirit seems
to have left behind it, it still possesses in the depths of its
present.
GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF HISTORY
Contrasted with the universality of the moral Whole and
with the unity of that individuality which is its active prin-
ciple, the natural connection that helps to produce the Spirit
of a People, appears an extrinsic element; but inasmuch as
we must regard it as the ground on which that Spirit plays
its part, it is an essential and necessary basis. We began with
the assertion that, in the History of the World, the Idea of
Spirit appears in its actual embodiment as a series of external
forms, each one of which declares itself as an actually existing
people. This existence falls under the category of Time as
well as Space, in the way of natural existence ; and the special
principle, which every world-historical people embodies, has
this principle at the same time as a natural characteristic. Spirit,
clothing itself in this form of nature, suffers its particular
phases to assume separate existence; for mutual exclusion
is the mode of existence proper to mere nature. These natural
distinctions must be first of all regarded as special possibilities,
from which the Spirit of the people in question germinates,
and among them is the Geographical Basis. It is not our con-
cern to become acquainted with the land occupied by nations
as an external locale, but with the natural type of the locality,
So PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
as intimately connected with the type and character of the
people which is the offspring of such a soil. This character
is nothing more nor less than the mode and form in which
nations make their appearance in History, and take place and
position in it. Nature should not be rated too high nor too low :
the mild Ionic sky certainly contributed much to the charm of
the Homeric poems, yet this alone can produce no Homers.
Nor in fact does it continue to produce them; under Turkish
government no bards have arisen. We must first take notice
of those natural conditions which have to be excluded once
for all from the drama of the World's History. In the Frigid
and in the Torrid zone the locality of World-historical peoples
cannot be found. For awakening consciousness takes its rise
surrounded by natural influences alone, and every development
of it is the reflection of Spirit back upon itself in opposition
to the immediate, unreflected character of mere nature. Nat-
ure is therefore one element in this antithetic abstracting proc-
ess; Nature is the first standpoint from which man can gain
freedom within himself, and this liberation must not be ren-
dered difficult by natural obstructions. Nature, as contrasted
with Spirit, is a quantitative mass, whose power must not be
so great as to make its single force omnipotent. In the ex-
treme zones man cannot come to free movement; cold and
heat are here too powerful to allow Spirit to build up a world
for itself. Aristotle said long ago, " When pressing needs are
satisfied, man turns to the general and more elevated." But
in the extreme zones such pressure may be said never to cease,
never to be warded off ; men are constantly impelled to direct
attention to nature, to the glowing rays of the sun, and the icy
frost. The true theatre of History is therefore the temperate
zone ; or, rather, its northern half, because the earth there pre-
sents itself in a continental form, and has a broad breast, as the
Greeks say. In the south, on the contrary, it divides itself, and
runs out into many points. The same peculiarity shows itself
in natural products. The north has many kinds of animals
and plants with common characteristics; in the south, where
the land divides itself into points, natural forms also present
individual features contrasted with each other.
The World is divided into Old and Neiv; the name of New
having originated in the fact that America and Australia have
only lately become known to us. But these parts of the world
INTRODUCTION ■ 81
are not only relatively new, but intrinsically so in respect of
their entire physical and psychical constitution. Their geo-
logical antiquity we have nothing to do with. I will not deny
the New World the honor of having emerged from the sea
at the world's formation contemporaneously with the old: yet
the Archipelago between South America and Asia shows a
physical immaturity. The greater part of the islands are so
constituted, that they are, as it were, only a superficial deposit
of earth over rocks, which shoot up from the fathomless deep,
and bear the character of novel origination. New Holland
shows a not less immature geographical character ; for in pene-
trating from the settlements of the English farther into the
country, we discover immense streams, which have not yet
developed themselves to such a degree as to dig a channel for
themselves, but lose themselves in marshes. Of America and
its grade of civilization, especially in Mexico and Peru, we
have information, but it imports nothing more than that this
culture was an entirely national one, which must expire as soon
as Spirit approached it. America has always shown itself
physically and psychically powerless, and still shows itself so.
For the aborigines, after the landing of the Europeans in
America, gradually vanished at the breath of European activ-
ity. In the United States of North America all the citizens
are of European descent, with whom the old inhabitants could
not amalgamate, but were driven back. The aborigines have
certainly adopted some arts and usages from the Europeans,
among others that of brandy-drinking, which has operated with
deadly effect. In the South the natives were treated with much
greater violence, and employed in hard labors to which their
strength was by no means competent. A mild and passionless
disposition, want of spirit, and a crouching submissiveness tow-
ards a Creole, and still more towards a European, are the
chief characteristics of the native Americans ; and it will be
long before the Europeans succeed in producing any inde-
pendence of feeling in them. The inferiority of these individ-
uals in all respects, even in regard to size, is very manifest;
only the quite southern races in Patagonia are more vigorous
natures, but still abiding in their natural condition of rudeness
and barbarism. When the Jesuits and the Catholic clergy pro-
posed to accustom the Indians to European culture and man-
ners (they have, as is well known, founded a state in Paraguay
82 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY!
and convents in Mexico and California), they commenced a
close intimacy with them, and prescribed for them the duties
of the day, which, slothful though their disposition was, they
complied with under the authority of the 1 Friars. These pre-
scripts (at midnight a bell had to remind them even of their
matrimonial duties), were first, and very wisely, directed to
the creation of wants — the springs of human activity generally.
The weakness of the American physique was a chief reason
for bringing the negroes to America, to employ their labor in
the work that had to be done in the New World ; for the ne-
groes are far more susceptible of European culture than the
Indians, and an English traveller has adduced instances of
negroes having become competent clergymen, medical men,
etc. (a negro first discovered the use of the Peruvian bark),
while only a single native was known to him whose intellect
was sufficiently developed to enable him to study, but who had
died soon after beginning, through excessive brandy-drinking.
The weakness of the human physique of America has been
aggravated by a deficiency in the mere tools and appliances of
progress — the want of horses and iron, the chief instruments
by which they were subdued.
The original nation having vanished or nearly so, the effec-
tive population comes for the most part from Europe; and
what takes place in America, is but an emanation from Europe.
Europe has sent its surplus population to America in much
the same way as from the old Imperial Cities, where trade-
guilds were dominant and trade was stereotyped, many persons
escaped to other towns which were not under such a yoke, and
where the burden of imposts was not so heavy. Thus arose, by
the side of Hamburg, Altona — by Frankfort, Offenbach — by
Niirnburg, Fiirth — and Carouge by Geneva. The relation be-
tween North America and Europe is sinilar. Many English-
men have settled there, where burdens and imposts do not
exist, and where the combination of European appliances and
European ingenuity has availed to realize some produce from
the extensive and still virgin soil. Indeed the emigration in
question offers many advantages. The emigrants have got
rid of much that might be obstructive to their interests at home,
while they take with them the advantages of European inde-
pendence of spirit, and acquired skill ; while for those who are
willing to work vigorously, but who have not found in Europe
INTRODUCTION 83
opportunities for doing so, a sphere of action is certainly pre-
sented in America,
America, as is well known, is divided into two parts, con-
nected indeed by an isthmus, but which has not been the means
of establishing intercourse between them. Rather, these two
divisions are most decidedly distinct from each other. North
America shows us on approaching it, along its eastern shore
a wide border of level coast, behind which is stretched a chain
of mountains — the blue mountains or Appalachians; further
north the Alleghanies. Streams issuing from them water the
country towards the coast, which affords advantages of the
most desirable kind to the United States, whose origin belongs
to this region. Behind that mountain-chain the St. Lawrence
river flows (in connection with huge lakes), from south to
north, and on this river lie the northern colonies of Canada.
Farther west we meet the basin of the vast Mississippi, and
the basins of the Missouri and Ohio, which it receives, and
then debouches into the Gulf of Mexico. On the western side
of this region we have in like manner a long mountain chain,
running through Mexico and the Isthmus of Panama, and
under the names of the Andes or Cordillera, cutting off an edge
of coast along the whole west side of South America. The
border formed by this is narrower and offers fewer advantages
than that of North America. There lie Peru and Chili. On
the east side flow eastward the monstrous streams of the Ori-
noco and Amazons ; they form great valleys, not adapted how-
ever for cultivation, since they are only wide desert steppes.
Towards the south flows the Rio de la Plata, whose tributaries
have their origin partly in the Cordilleras, partly in the northern
chain of mountains which separates the basin of the Amazon
from its own. To the district of the Rio de la Plata belong
Brazil, and the Spanish Republics. Colombia is the northern
coast-land of South America, at the west of which, flowing
along the Andes, the Magdalena debouches into the Caribbean
Sea.
With the exception of Brazil, republics have come to occupy
South as well as North America. In comparing South Amer-
ica (reckoning Mexico as part of it) with North America, we
observe an astonishing contrast.
In North America we witness a prosperous state of things ;
an increase of industry and population civil order and firm
Vol. 23 E— Classics
84 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
freedom; the whole federation constitutes but a single state,
and has its political centres. In South America, on the con-
trary, the republics depend only on military force ; their whole
history is a continued revolution; federated states become
disunited ; others previously separated become united ; and
all these changes originate in military revolutions. The more
special differences between the two parts of America show
us two opposite directions, the one in political respects, the other
in regard to religion. South America, where the Spaniards
settled and asserted supremacy, is Catholic; North America,
although a land of sects of every name, is yet fundamentally,
Protestant. A wider distinction is presented in the fact, that
South America was conquered, but North America colonized.
The Spaniards took possession of South America to govern it,
and to become rich through occupying political offices, and by
exactions. Depending on a very distant mother country, their
desires found a larger scope, and by force, address and confi-
dence they gained a great predominance over the Indians. The
North American States were, on the other hand, entirely colo-
nized, by Europeans. Since in England Puritans, Episcopal-
ians, and Catholics were engaged in perpetual conflict, and now
one party, now the other, had the upper hand, many emigrated
to seek religious freedom on a foreign shore. These were in-
dustrious Europeans, who betook themselves to agriculture,
tobacco and cotton planting, etc. Soon the whole attention
of the inhabitants was given to labor, and the basis of their
existence as a united body lay in the necessities that bind man
to man, the desire of repose, the establishment of civil rights,
security and freedom, and a community arising from the aggre-
gation of individuals as atomic constituents ; so that the state
was merely something external for the protection of property.
From the Protestant religion sprang the principle of the mutual
confidence of individuals — trust in the honorable dispositions
of other men ; for in the Protestant Church the entire life — its
activity generally — is the field for what it deems religious
works. Among Catholics, on the contrary, the basis of such
a confidence cannot exist; for in secular matters only force
and voluntary subservience are the principles of action; and
the forms which are called Constitutions are in this case only
a resort of necessity, and are no protection against mistrust.
If we compare North America further with Europe, we shall
INTRODUCTION 85
find in the former the permanent example of a republican con-
stitution. A subjective unity presents itself; for there is a
President at the head of the State, who, for the sake of security
against any monarchical ambition, is chosen only for four years.
Universal protection for property, and a something approach-
ing entire immunity from public burdens, are facts which are
constantly held up to commendation. We have in these facts
the fundamental character of the community — the endeavor of
the individual after acquisition, commercial profit, and gain;
the preponderance of private interest, devoting itself to that of
the community only for its own advantage. We find, certainly,
legal relations — a formal code of laws; but respect for law
exists apart from genuine probity, and the American merchants
commonly lie under the imputation of dishonest dealings under
legal protection. If, on the one side, the Protestant Church
develops the essential principle of confidence, as already stated,
it thereby involves on the other hand the recognition of the
validity of the element of feeling to such a degree as gives
encouragement to unseemly varieties of caprice. Those who
adopt this standpoint maintain, that, as everyone may have his
peculiar way of viewing things generally, so he may have also
a religion peculiar to himself. Thence the splitting up into so
many sects, which reach the very acme of absurdity; many of
which have a form of worship consisting in convulsive move-
ments, and sometimes in the most sensuous extravagances.
This complete freedom of worship is developed to such a de-
gree, that the various congregations choose ministers and dis-
miss them according to their absolute pleasure ; for the Church
is no independent existence — having a substantial spiritual be-
ing, and correspondingly permanent external arrangement —
but the affairs of religion are regulated by the good pleasure
for the time being of the members of the community. In North
America the most unbounded license of imagination in religious
matters prevails, and that religious unity is wanting which has
been maintained in European States, where deviations are lim-
ited to a few confessions. As to the political condition of North
America, the general object of the existence of this State is
not yet fixed and determined, and the necessity for a firm
combination does not yet exist; for a real State and a real
Government arise only after a distinction of classes has arisen,
when wealth and poverty become extreme, and when such a
86 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
condition of things presents itself that a large portion of the
people can no longer satisfy its necessities in the way in which
it has been accustomed so to do. But America is hitherto
exempt from this pressure, for it has the outlet of colonization
constantly and widely open, and multitudes are continually
streaming into the plains of the Mississippi. By this means
the chief source of discontent is removed, and the continuation
of the existing civil condition is guaranteed. A comparison
of the United States of North America with European lands
is therefore impossible; for in Europe, such a natural outlet
for population, notwithstanding all the emigrations that take
place, does not exist. Had the woods of Germany been in
existence, the French Revolution would not have occurred.
North America will be comparable with Europe only after the
immeasurable space which that country presents to its inhabi-
tants shall have been occupied, and the members of the political
body shall have begun to be pressed back on each other. North
America is still in the condition of having land to begin to culti-
vate. Only when, as in Europe, the direct increase of agricult-
urists is checked, will the inhabitants, instead of pressing out-
wards to occupy the fields, press inwards upon each other —
pursuing town occupations, and trading with their fellow-
citizens; and so form a compact system of civil society, and
require an organized state. The North American Federation
have no neighboring State (towards which they occupy a rela-
tion similar to that of European States to each other), one
which they regard with mistrust, and against which they must
keep up a standing army. Canada and Mexico are not objects
of fear, and England has had fifty years' experience, that free
America is more profitable to her than it was in a state of
dependence. The militia of the North American Republic
proved themselves quite as brave in the War of Independence
as the Dutch under Philip II ; but generally, where Inde-
pendence is not at stake, less power is displayed, and in the
year 1814 the militia held out but indifferently against the
English.
America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the
ages that lie before us, the burden of the World's History shall
reveal itself — perhaps in a contest between North and South
America. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of
the historical lumber-room of old Europe. Napoleon is re-
INTRODUCTION 87
ported to have said : " Cette vieille Europe m'ennuie." It is
for America to abandon the ground on which hitherto the His-
tory of the World has developed itself. What has taken place
in the New World up to the present time is only an echo of
the Old World — the expression of a foreign Life; and as a
Land of the Future, it has no interest for us here, for, as re-
gards History, our concern must be with that which has been
and that which is. In regard to Philosophy, on the other hand,
we have to do with that which (strictly speaking) is neither
past nor future, but with that which is, which has an eternal
existence — with Reason; and this is quite sufficient to oc-
cupy us.
Dismissing, then, the New World, and the dreams to which
it may give rise, we pass over to the Old World — the scene of
the World's History; and must first direct attention to the
natural elements and conditions of existence which it presents.
America is divided into two parts, which are indeed connected
by an Isthmus, but which forms only an external, material
bond of union. The Old World, on the contrary, which lies
opposite to America, and is separated from it by the Atlantic
Ocean, has its continuity interrupted by a deep inlet — the
Mediterranean Sea. The three Continents that compose it
have an essential relation to each other, and constitute a totality.
Their peculiar feature is that they lie round this Sea, and there-
fore have an easy means of communication; for rivers and
seas are not to be regarded as disjoining, but as uniting. Eng-
land and Brittany, Norway and Denmark, Sweden and Livonia,
have been united. For the three quarters of the globe the Medi-
terranean Sea is similarly the uniting element, and the centre
of World-History. Greece lies here, the focus of light in His-
tory. Then in Syria we have Jerusalem, the centre of Judaism
and of Christianity ; southeast of it lie Mecca and Medina, the
cradle of the Mussulman faith ; towards the west Delphi and
Athens; farther west still, Rome: on the Mediterranean Sea
we have also Alexandria and Carthage. The Mediterranean
is thus the heart of the Old World, for it is that which condi-
tioned and vitalized it. Without it the History of the World
could not be conceived: it would be like ancient Rome or
Athens without the forum, where all the life of the city came
together. The extensive tract of eastern Asia is severed from
the process of general historical development, and has no share
88 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in it ; so also Northern Europe, which took part in the World's
History only at a later date, and had no part in it while the Old
World lasted ; for this was exclusively4imited to the countries
lying round the Mediterranean Sea. Julius Caesar's crossing
the Alps — the conquest of Gaul and the relation into which the
Germans thereby entered with the Roman Empire — makes
consequently an epoch in History; for in virtue of this it
begins to extend its boundaries beyond the Alps. Eastern Asia
and that trans- Alpine country are the extremes of this agitated
focus of human life around the Mediterranean — the beginning
and end of History — its rise and decline.
The more special geographical distinctions must now be es-
tablished, and they are to be regarded as essential, rational
distinctions, in contrast with the variety of merely accidental
circumstances. Of these characteristic differences there are
three : —
(i) The arid elevated land with its extensive steppes and
plains.
(2) The valley plains — the Land of Transition permeated
and watered by great Streams.
(3) The coast region in immediate connection with the sea.
These three geographical elements are the essential ones,
and we shall see each quarter of the globe triply divided ac-
cordingly. The first is the substantial, unvarying, metallic,
elevated region, intractably shut up within itself, but perhaps
adapted to send forth impulses over the rest of the world ; the
second forms centres of civilization, and is the yet undeveloped
independence [of humanity] ; the third offers the means of
connecting the world together, and of maintaining the con-
nection.
( 1 ) The elevated land. — We see such a description of coun-
try in middle Asia inhabited by Mongolians (using the word
in a general sense) : from the Caspian Sea these Steppes
stretch in a northerly direction towards the Black Sea. As
similar tracts may be cited the deserts of Arabia and of Barbary
in Africa; in South America the country round the Orinoco,
and in Paraguay. The peculiarity of the inhabitants of this
elevated region, which is watered sometimes only by rain, or
by the overflowing of a river (as are the plains of the Orinoco)
— is the patriarchal life, the division into single families. The
region which these families occupy is unfruitful or productive
INTRODUCTION 89
only temporarily: the inhabitants have their property not in
the land — from which they derive only a trifling profit — but in
the animals that wander with them. For a long time these find
pasture in the plains, and when they are depastured, the tribe
moves to other parts of the country. They are careless and
provide nothing for the winter, on which account therefore,
half of the herd is frequently cut off. Among these inhabitants
of the upland there exist no legal relations, and consequently
there are exhibited among them the extremes of hospitality
and rapine ; the last more especially when they are surrounded
by civilized nations, as the Arabians, who are assisted in their
depredations by their horses and camels. The Mongolians feed
on mares' milk, and thus the horse supplies them at the same
time with appliances for nourishment and for war. Although
this is the form of their patriarchal life, it often happens that
they cohere together in great masses, and by an impulse of one
kind or another, are excited to external movement. Though
previously of peaceful disposition, they then rush as a devas-
tating inundation over civilized lands, and the revolution which
ensues has no other result than destruction and desolation.
Such an agitation was excited among those tribes under Gen-
ghis Khan and Tamerlane : they destroyed all before them ; then
vanished again, as does an overwhelming Forest-torrent — pos-
sessing no inherent principle of vitality. From the uplands
they rush down into the dells : there dwell peaceful mountain-
eers — herdsmen who also occupy themselves with agriculture,
as do the Swiss. Asia has also such a people : they are however
on the whole a less important element.
(2) The valley plains. — These are plains, permeated by riv-
ers, and which owe the whole of their fertility to the streams
by which they are formed. Such a Valley-Plain is China-
India, traversed by the Indus and the Ganges — Babylonia,
where the Euphrates and the Tigris flow — Egypt, watered by
the Nile. In these regions extensive Kingdoms arise, and the
foundation of great States begins. For agriculture, which
prevails here as the primary principle of subsistence for indi-
viduals, is assisted by the regularity of seasons, which require
corresponding agricultural operations; property in land com-
mences, and the consequent legal relations ; — that is to say, the
basis and foundation of the State, which becomes possible only
in connection with such relations.
9°
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
(3) The coast land. — A River divides districts of country
from each other, but still more does the sea; and we are accus-
tomed to regard water as the separating element. Especially
in recent times has it been insisted upon that States must neces-
sarily have been separated by natural features. Yet on the
contrary, it may be asserted as a fundamental principle that
nothing unites so much as water, for countries are nothing else
than districts occupied by streams. Silesia, for instance, is the
valley of the Oder ; Bohemia and Saxony are the valley of the
Elbe ; Egypt is the valley of the Nile. With the sea this is not
less the case, as has been already pointed out. Only Mountains
separate. Thus the Pyrenees decidedly separate Spain from
France. The Europeans have been in constant connection with
America and the East Indies ever since they were discovered ;
but they have scarcely penetrated into the interior of Africa and
Asia, because intercourse by land is much more difficult than
by water. Only through the fact of being a sea, has the Medi-
terranean become a focus of national life. Let us now look
at the character of the nations that are conditioned by this
third element.
The sea gives us the idea of the indefinite, the unlimited, and
infinite; and in feeling his own infinite in that Infinite, man
is stimulated and emboldened to stretch beyond the limited :
the sea invites man to conquest, and to piratical plunder, but
also to honest gain and to commerce. The land, the mere
Valley-plain attaches him to the soil ; it involves him in an
infinite multitude of dependencies, but the sea carries him out
beyond these limited circles of thought and action. Those who
navigate the sea, have indeed gain for their object, but the
means are in this respect paradoxical, inasmuch as they hazard
both property and life to attain it. The means therefore are
the very opposite to that which they aim at. This is what exalts
their gain and occupation above itself, and makes it something
brave and noble. Courage is necessarily introduced into trade,
daring is joined with wisdom. For the daring which encoun-
ters the sea must at the same time embrace wariness — cunning
— since it has to do with the treacherous, the most unreliable
and deceitful element. This boundless plain is absolutely yield-
ing — withstanding no pressure, not even a breath of wind. It
looks boundlessly innocent, submissive, friendly, and insinuat-
ing; and it is exactly this submissiveness which changes the
INTRODUCTION
9»
sea into the most dangerous and violent element. To this de-
ceitfulness and violence man opposes merely a simple piece of
wood ; confides entirely in his courage and presence of mind ;
and thus passes from a firm ground to an unstable support,
taking his artificial ground with him. The Ship — that swan
of the sea, which cuts the watery plain in agile and arching
movements or describes circles upon it — is a machine whose
invention does the greatest honor to the boldness of man as
well as to his understanding. This stretching out of the sea
beyond the limitations of the land, is wanting to the splendid
political edifices of Asiatic States, although they themselves
border on the sea — as for example, China. For them the sea
is only the limit, the ceasing of the land ; they have no positive
relation to it. The activity to which the sea invites, is a quite
peculiar one : thence arises the fact that the coast-lands almost
always separate themselves from the states of the interior al-
though they are connected with these by a river. Thus Holland
has severed itself from Germany, Portugal from Spain.
In accordance with these data we may now consider the
three portions of the globe with which History is concerned,
and here the three characteristic principles manifest themselves
in a more or less striking manner: Africa has for its leading
classical feature the Upland, Asia the contrast of river regions
with the Upland, Europe the mingling of these several ele-
ments.
Africa must be divided into three parts: one is that which
lies south of the desert of Sahara — Africa proper — the Upland
almost entirely unknown to us, with narrow coast-tracts along
the sea ; the second is that to the north of the desert — European
Africa (if we may so call it) — a coastland; the third is the
river region of the Nile, the only valley-land of Africa, and
which is in connection with Asia.
Africa proper, as far as History goes back, has remained—
for all purposes of connection with the rest of the World —
shut up ; it is the Gold-land compressed within itself — the land
of childhood, which lying beyond the day of self-conscious his-
tory, is enveloped in the dark mantle of Night. Its isolated
character originates, not merely in its tropical nature, but
essentially m its geographical condition. The triangle
which it forms (if we take the West Coast — which in the Gulf
of Guinea makes a strongly indented angle — for one side, and
9 2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in the same way the East Coast to Cape Gardafu for another)
is on two sides so constituted for the most part, as to have
a very narrow Coast Tract, habitable only in a few isolated
spots. Next to this towards the interior, follows to almost the
same extent, a girdle of marsh land with the most luxuriant
vegetation, the especial home of ravenous beasts, snakes of all
kinds — a border tract whose atmosphere is poisonous to Euro-
peans. This border constitutes the base of a cincture of high
mountains, which are only at distant intervals traversed by
streams, and where they are so, in such a way as to form no
means of union with the interior; for the interruption occurs
but seldom below the upper part of the mountain ranges, and
only in individual narrow channels, where are frequently found
innavigable waterfalls and torrents crossing each other in wild
confusion. During the three or three and a half centuries that
the Europeans have known this border-land and have taken
places in it into their possession, they have only here and there
(and that but for a short time) passed these mountains, and
have nowhere settled down beyond them. The land surrounded
by these mountains is an unknown Upland, from which on the
other hand the Negroes have seldom made their way through.
In the sixteenth century occurred at many very distant points,
outbreaks of terrible hordes which rushed down upon the more
peaceful inhabitants of the declivities. Whether any internal
movement had taken place, or if so, of what character, we do
not know. What we do know of these hordes, is the contrast
between their conduct in their wars and forays themselves —
which exhibited the most reckless inhumanity and disgusting
barbarism — and the fact that afterwards, when their rage was
spent, in the calm time of peace, they showed themselves mild
and well disposed towards the Europeans, when they became
acquainted with them. This holds good of the Fullahs and of
the Mandingo tribes, who inhabit the mountain terraces of
the Senegal and Gambia. The second portion of Africa is
the river district of the Nile — Egypt; which was adapted to
become a mighty centre of independent civilization, and there-
fore is as isolated and singular in Africa as Africa itself appears
in relation to the other parts of the world. The northern part
of Africa, which may be specially called that of the coast-terri-
tory (for Egypt has been frequently driven back on itself, by
the Mediterranean) lies on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic;
INTRODUCTION
93
a magnificent territory, on which Carthage once lay — the site
of the modern Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This
part was to be — must be attached to Europe : the French have
lately made a successful effort in this direction: like Hither-
Asia, it looks Europe-wards. Here in their turn have Cartha-
ginians, Romans, and Byzantines, Mussulmans, Arabians, had
their abode, and the interests of Europe have always striven
to get a footing in it.
The peculiarly African character is difficult to comprehend,
for the very reason that in reference to it, we must quite give
up the principle which naturally accompanies all our ideas —
the category of Universality. In Negro life the characteristic
point is the fact that consciousness has not yet attained to
the realization of any substantial objective existence — as for
example, God, or Law — in which the interest of man's volition
is involved and in which he realizes his own being. This dis-
tinction between himself as an individual and the universality
of his essential being, the African in the uniform, undeveloped
oneness of his existence has not yet attained; so that the
Knowledge of an absolute Being, an Other and a Higher than
his individual self, is entirely wanting. The Negro, as already
observed, exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and
untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence
and morality — all that we call feeling — if we would rightly
comprehend him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity
to be found in this type of character. The copious and circum-
stantial accounts of Missionaries completely confirm this, and
Mahommedanism appears to be the only thing which in any
way brings the Negroes within the range of culture. The Ma-
hommedans too understand better than the Europeans, how to
penetrate into the interior of the country. The grade of culture
which the Negroes occupy may be more nearly appreciated by
considering the aspect which Religion presents among them.
That which forms the basis of religious conceptions is the con-
sciousness on the part of man of a Higher Power — even though
this is conceived only as a vis natures — in relation to which he
feels himself a weaker, humbler being. Religion begins with
the consciousness that there is something higher than man.
But even Herodotus called the Negroes sorcerers: — now in
Sorcery we have not the idea of a God, of a moral faith; it
exhibits man as the highest power, regarding him as alone
94 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
occupying a position of command over the power of Nature.
We have here therefore nothing to do with a spiritual adora-
tion of God, nor with an empire of >Right. God thunders, but
is not on that account recognized as God. For the soul of man,
God must be more than a thunderer, whereas among the Ne-
groes this is not the case. Although they are necessarily con-
scious of dependence upon nature — for they need the bene-
ficial influence of storm, rain, cessation of the rainy period, and
so on — yet this does not conduct them to the consciousness of
a Higher Power: it is they who command the elements, and
this they call " magic." The Kings have a class of ministers
through whom they command elemental changes, and every
place possesses such magicians, who perform special ceremo-
nies, with all sorts of gesticulations, dances, uproar, and shout-
ing, and in the midst of this confusion commence their incanta-
tions. The second element in their religion, consists in their
giving an outward form to this supernatural power — projecting
their hidden might into the world of phenomena by means of
images. What they conceive of as the power in question, is
therefore nothing really objective, having a substantial being
and different from themselves, but the first thing that comes
in their way. This, taken quite indiscriminately, they exalt to
the dignity of a " Genius " ; it may be an animal, a tree, a
stone, or a wooden figure. This is their Fetich — a word to
which the Portuguese first gave currency, and which is derived
from feitizo, magic. Here, in the Fetich, a kind of objective
independence as contrasted with the arbitrary fancy of the
individual seems to manifest itself; but as the objectivity is
nothing other than the fancy of the individual projecting itself
into space, the human individuality remains master of the im-
age it has adopted. If any mischance occurs which the Fetich
has not averted, if rain is suspended, if there is a failure in the
crops, they bind and beat or destroy the Fetich and so get rid
of it, making another immediately, and thus holding it in their
own power. Such a Fetich has no independence as an object
of religious worship; still less has it aesthetic independence
as a work of art ; it is merely a creation that expresses the
arbitrary choice of its maker, and which always remains in his
hands. In short there is no relation of dependence in this re-
ligion. There is however one feature that points to something
beyond; — the Worship of the Dead — in which their deceased
INTRODUCTION
95
forefathers and ancestors are regarded by them as a power
influencing the living. Their idea in the matter is that these
ancestors exercise vengeance and inflict upon man various
injuries — exactly in the sense in which this was supposed of
witches in the Middle Ages. Yet the power of the dead is not
held superior to that of the living, for the Negroes command
the dead and lay spells upon them. Thus the power in question
remains substantially always in bondage to the living subject.
Death itself is looked upon by the Negroes as no universal
natural law ; even this, they think, proceeds from evil-disposed
magicians. In this doctrine is certainly involved the elevation
of man over Nature ; to such a degree that the chance volition
of man is superior to the merely natural — that he looks upon
this as an instrument to which he does not pay the compliment
of treating it in a way conditioned by itself, but which he com-
mands.*
But from the fact that man is regarded as the Highest, it
follows that he has no respect for himself; for only with the
consciousness of a Higher Being does he reach a point of view
which inspires him with real reverence. For if arbitrary choice
is the absolute, the only substantial objectivity that is realized,
the mind cannot in such be conscious of any Universality. The
Negroes indulge, therefore, that perfect contempt for humanity,
which in its bearing on Justice and Morality is the fundamental
characteristic of the race. They have moreover no knowledge
of the immortality of the soul, although spectres are supposed
to appear. The undervaluing of humanity among them reaches
an incredible degree of intensity. Tyranny is regarded as no
wrong, and cannibalism is looked upon as quite customary and
proper. Among us instinct deters from it, if we can speak of
instinct at all as appertaining to man. But with the Negro this
is not the case, and the devouring of human flesh is altogether
consonant with the general principles of the African race ; to
the sensual Negro, human flesh is but an object of sense — mere
flesh. At the death of a King hundreds are killed and eaten ;
prisoners are butchered and their flesh sold in the markets;
the victor is accustomed to eat the heart of his slain foe. When
magical rites are performed, it frequently happens that the sor-
cerer kills the first that comes in his way and divides his body
* Vide Hegel's " Vorlesungen uber die Philosophic der Religion," I. 284 and
289. 2d Ed.
96 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
among the bystanders. Another characteristic fact in refer-
ence to the Negroes is Slavery. Negroes are enslaved by Eu-
ropeans and sold to America. Bad as this may be, their lot in
their own land is even worse, since there a slavery quite as ab-
solute exists; for it is the essential principle of slavery, that
man has not yet attained a consciousness of his freedom, and
consequently sinks down to a mere Thing — an object of no
value. Among the Negroes moral sentiments are quite weak,
or more strictly speaking, non-existent. Parents sell their
children, and conversely children their parents, as either has the
opportunity. Through the pervading influence of slavery all
those bonds of moral regard which we cherish towards each
other disappear, and it does not occur to the Negro mind to ex-
pect from others what we are enabled to claim. The polygamy
of the Negroes has frequently for its object the having many
children, to be sold, every one of them, into slavery ; and very
often naive complaints on this score are heard, as for instance
in the case of a Negro in London, who lamented that he was
now quite a poor man because he had already sold all his rela-
tions. In the contempt of humanity displayed by the Negroes,
it is not so much a despising of death as a want of regard for
life that forms the characteristic feature. To this want of re-
gard for life must be ascribed the great courage, supported by
enormous bodily strength, exhibited by the Negroes, who allow
themselves to be shot down by thousands in war with Euro-
peans. Life has a value only when it has something valuable as
its object.
Turning our attention in the next place to the category of
political constitution, we shall see that the entire nature of this
race is such as to preclude the existence of any such arrange-
ment. The standpoint of humanity at this grade is mere sen-
suous volition with energy of will ; since universal spiritual
laws (for example, that of the morality of the Family) cannot
be recognized here. Universality exists only as arbitrary sub-
jective choice. The political bond can therefore not possess
such a character as that free laws should unite the community.
There is absolutely no bond, no restraint upon that arbitrary
volition. Nothing but external force can hold the State to-
gether for a moment. A ruler stands at the head, for sensuous
barbarism can only be restrained by despotic power. But since
the subjects are of equally violent temper with their master,
INTRODUCTION
97
they keep him on the other hand within limits. Under the chief
there are many other chiefs with whom the former, whom we
will call the King, takes counsel, and whose consent he must
seek to gain, if he wishes to undertake a war or impose a tax.
In this relation he can exercise more or less authority, and by
fraud or force can on occasion put this or that chieftain out of
the way. Besides this the Kings have other specified preroga-
tives-. Among the Ashantees the King inherits all the property
left by his subjects at their death. In other places all unmar-
ried women belong to the King, and whoever wishes a wife,
must buy her from him. If the Negroes are discontented with
their King they depose and kill him. In Dahomey, when they
are thus displeased, the custom is to send parrots' eggs to the
King, as a sign of dissatisfaction with his government. Some-
times also a deputation is sent, which intimates to him, that the
burden of government must have been very troublesome to him,
and that he had better rest a little. The King then thanks his
subjects, goes into his apartments, and has himself strangled
by the women. Tradition alleges that in former times a state
composed of women made itself famous by its conquests : it was
a state at whose head was a woman. She is said to have
pounded her own son in a mortar, to have besmeared herself with
the blood, and to have had the blood of pounded children con-
stantly at hand. She is said to haVe driven away or put to'death
all the males, and commanded the death of all male children.
These furies destroyed everything in the neighborhood, and
were driven to constant plunderings, because they did not cul-
tivate the land. Captives in war were taken as husbands : preg-
nant women had to betake themselves outside the encampment ;
and if they had born a son, put him out of the way. This in-
famous state, the report goes on to say, subsequently disap-
peared. Accompanying the King we constantly find in Negro
States, the executioner, whose office is regarded as of the high-
est consideration, and by whose hands, the King, though he
makes use of him for putting suspected persons to death, may
himself suffer death, if the grandees desire it. Fanaticism,
which, notwithstanding the yielding disposition of the Negro
in other respects, can be excited, surpasses, when roused, all
belief. An English traveller states that when a war is deter-
mined on in Ashantee, solemn ceremonies precede it : among
other things the bones of the King's mother are laved with
98 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
human blood. As a prelude to the war, the King ordains an
onslaught upon his own metropolis, as if to excite the due de-
gree of frenzy. The King sent word'to the English Hutchin-
son : ' Christian, take care, and watch well over your family.
The messenger of death has drawn his sword and will strike the
neck of many Ashantees ; when the drum sounds it is the death
signal for multitudes. Come to the King, if you can, and fear
nothing for yourself." The drum beat, and a terrible carnage
was begun ; all who came in the way of the frenzied Negroes
in the streets were stabbed. On such occasions the King has all
whom he suspects killed, and the deed then assumes the charac-
ter of a sacred act. Every idea thrown into the mind of the
Negro is caught up and realized with the whole energy of his
will; but this realization involves a wholesale destruction.
These people continue long at rest, but suddenly their passions
ferment, and then they are quite beside themselves. The de-
struction which is the consequence of their excitement, is caused
by the fact that it is no positive idea, no thought which produces
these commotions ; — a physical rather than a spiritual enthusi-
asm. In Dahomey, when the King dies, the bonds of society
are loosed ; in his palace begins indiscriminate havoc and dis-
organization. All the wives of the King (in Dahomey their
number is exactly 3,333) are massacred, and through the whole
town plunder and carnage run riot. The wives of the King
regard this their death as a necessity ; they go richly attired to
meet it. The authorities have to hasten to proclaim the new
governor, simply to put a stop to massacre.
From these various traits it is manifest that want of self-
control distinguishes the character of the Negroes. This con-
dition is capable of no development or culture, and as we see
them at this day, such have they always been. The only essen-
tial connection that has existed and continued between the
Negroes and the Europeans is that of slavery. In this the
Negroes see nothing unbecoming them, and the English who
have done most for abolishing the slave-trade and slavery, are
treated by the Negroes themselves as enemies. For it is a
point of first importance with the Kings to sell their captured
enemies, or even their own subjects ; and viewed in the light
of such facts, we may conclude slavery to have been the occasion
of the increase of human feeling among the Negroes. The doc-
trine which we deduce from this condition of slavery among the
INTRODUCTION
99
Negroes, and which constitutes the only side of the question
that has an interest for our inquiry, is that which we deduce
from the Idea : viz. that the " Natural condition " itself is one
of absolute and thorough injustice — contravention of the Right
and Just. Every intermediate grade between this and the
realization of a rational State retains — as might be expected—
elements and aspects of injustice ; therefore we find slavery
even in the Greek and Roman States, as we do serfdom down
to the latest times. But thus existing in a State, slavery is itself
a phase of advance from the merely isolated sensual existence —
a phase of education — a mode of becoming participant in a
higher morality and the culture connected with it. Slavery is
in and for itself injustice, for the essence of humanity is Freedom;
but for this man must be matured. The gradual abolition of
slavery is therefore wiser and more equitable than its sudden re-
moval.
At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For
it is no historical part of the World ; it has no movement or
development to exhibit. Historical movements in it — that is in
its northern part — belong to the Asiatic or European World.
Carthage displayed there an important transitionary phase of
civilization ; but, as a Phoenician colony, it belongs to Asia.
Egypt will be considered in reference to the passage of the
human mind from its Eastern to its Western phase, but it does
not belong to the African Spirit. What we properly under-
stand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still
involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be
presented here only as on the threshold of the World's History.
Having eliminated this introductory element, we find our-
selves for the first time on the real theatre of History. It now
only remains for us to give a prefatory sketch of the Geograph-
ical basis of the Asiatic and European world. Asia is, character-
istically, the Orient quarter of the globe — the region of origina-
tion. It is indeed a Western world for America ; but as Europe
presents on the whole, the centre and end of the old world, and
is absolutely the West — so Asia is absolutely the East.
In Asia arose the Light of Spirit, and therefore the history of
the World.
We must now consider the various localities of Asia. Its
physical constitution presents direct antitheses, and the essen-
tial relation of these antitheses. Its various geographical prin-
ciples are formations in themselves developed and perfected.
ioo PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
First, the northern slope, Siberia, must be eliminated. This
slope, from the Altai chain, with its fine streams, that pour their
waters into the northern Ocean, does not at all concern us here ;
because the Northern Zone, as already stated, lies Out of the
pale of History. But the remainder includes three very inter-
esting localities. The first is, as in Africa, a massive Upland,
with a mountain girdle which contains the highest summits in
the World. This Upland is bounded on the South and South-
east, by the Mus-Tag or Imaus, parallel to which, farther south,
runs the Himalaya chain. Towards the East, a mountain
chain running from South to North, parts off the basin of the
Amur. On the North lie the Altai and Songarian mountains ;
in connection with the latter, in the Northwest the Musart and
in the West the Belur Tag, which by the Hindoo Coosh chain
are again united with the Mus-Tag.
This high mountain-girdle is broken through by streams,
which are dammed up and form great valley plains. These,
more or less inundated, present centres of excessive luxuriance
and fertility, and are distinguished from the European river dis-
tricts in their not forming, as those do, proper valleys with val-
leys branching out from them, but river-plains. Of this kind
are — the Chinese Valley Plain, formed by the Hoang-Ho and
Yang-tse-Kiang (the yellow and blue streams) — next that of
India, formed by the Ganges ; — less important is the Indus,
which in the north, gives character to the Punjaub, and in the
south flows through plains of sand. Farther on, the lands of
the Tigris and Euphrates, which rise in Armenia and hold their
course along the Persian mountains. The Caspian sea has
similar river valleys ; in the East those formed by the Oxus and
Jaxartes (Gihon and Sihon) which pour their waters into the
Sea of Aral ; on the West those of the Cyrus and Araxes (Kur
and Aras). — The Upland and the Plains must be distinguished
from each other ; the third element is their intermixture, which
occurs in Hither [Anterior] Asia. To this belongs Arabia, the
land of the Desert, the upland of plains, the empire of fanaticism.
To this belong Syria and Asia Minor, connected with the sea,
and having constant intercourse with Europe.
In regard to Asia the remark above offered respecting geo-
graphical differences is especially true ; viz. that the rearing of
cattle is the business of the Upland — agriculture and industrial
pursuits that of the valley-plains — while commerce and naviga*
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION
101 SAUNDERS HALL
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHAPEL HILL. NORTH CAROLINA 27514
INTRODUCTION 101
tion form the third and last item. Patriarchal independence is
strictly bound up with the first condition of society ; property
and the relation of lord and serf with the second ; civil freedom
with the third. In the Upland, where the various kinds of cat-
tle breeding, the rearing of horses, camels, and sheep, (not so
much of oxen) deserve attention, we must also distinguish the
calm habitual life of nomad tribes from the wild and restless
character they display in their conquests. These people, with-
out developing themselves in a really historical form, are swayed
by a powerful impulse leading them to change their aspect as
nations ; and although they have not attained an historical char-
acter, the beginning of History may be traced to them. It must
however be allowed that the peoples of the plains are more in-
teresting. In agriculture itself is involved, ipso facto, the ces-
sation of a roving life. It demands foresight and solicitude for
the future : reflection on a general idea is thus awakened ; and
herein lies the principle of property and productive industry.
China, India, Babylonia, have risen to the position of cultivated
lands of this kind. But as the peoples that have occupied these
lands have been shut up within themselves, and have not ap-
propriated that element of civilization which the sea supplies,
(or at any rate only at the commencement of their civilization)
and as their navigation of it — to whatever extent it may have
taken place — remained without influence on their culture — a re-
lation to the rest of History could only exist in their case,
through their being sought out, and their character investigated
by others. The mountain-girdle of the upland, the upland itself,
and the river-plains, characterize Asia physically and spiritu-
ally: but they themselves are not concretely, really, historical
elements. The opposition between the extremes is simply rec-
ognized, not harmonized ; a firm settlement in the fertile plains
is for the mobile, restless, roving, condition of the mountain
and Upland races, nothing more than a constant object of en-
deavor. Physical features distinct in the sphere of nature, as-
sume an essential historical relation. — Anterior Asia has both
elements in one, and has, consequently, a relation to Europe;
for what is most remarkable in it, this land has not kept for
itself, but sent over to Europe. It presents the origination of all
religious and political principles, but Europe has been the scene
of their development.
Europe, to which we now come, has not the physical varies
io2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ties which we noticed in Asia and Africa. The European char-
acter involves the disappearance of the contrast exhibited by
earlier varieties, or at least a modification of it ; so that we have
the milder qualities of a transition state. We have in Europe no
uplands immediately contrasted with plains. The three sec-
tions of Europe require therefore a different basis of classifica-
tion.
The first part is Southern Europe — looking towards the
Mediterranean. North of the Pyrenees, mountain-chains run
through France, connected with the Alps that separate and cut
off Italy from France and Germany. Greece also belongs to
this part of Europe. Greece and Italy long presented the thea-
tre of the World's History ; and while the middle and north of
Europe were uncultivated, the World-Spirit found its home
here.
The second portion is the heart of Europe, which Caesar
opened when conquering Gaul. This achievement was one of
manhood on the part of the Roman General, and more produc-
tive than that youthful one of Alexander, who undertook to
exalt the East to a participation in Greek life ; and whose work,
though in its purport the noblest and fairest for the imagination,
soon vanished, as a mere Ideal, in the sequel. — In this centre
of Europe, France, Germany, and England are the principal
countries.
Lastly, the third part consists of the north-eastern States of
Europe — Poland, Russia, and the Slavonic Kingdoms. They
come only late into the series of historical States, and form and
perpetuate the connection with Asia. In contrast with the
physical peculiarities of the earlier divisions, these are, as al-
ready noticed, not present in a remarkable degree, but counter-
balance each other.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORIC DATA
IN the geographical survey, the course of the World's His«
tory has been marked out in its general features. The
Sun — the Light — rises in the East. Light is a simply self-
involved existence; but though possessing thus in itself uni-
versality, it exists at the same time as an individuality in the
Sun. Imagination has often pictured to itself the emotions
of a blind man suddenly becoming possessed of sight, behold-
ing the bright glimmering of the dawn, the growing light, and
the flaming glory of the ascending Sun. The boundless for-
getfulness of his individuality in this pure splendor, is his first
feeling — utter astonishment. But when the Sun is risen, this
astonishment is diminished ; objects around are perceived, and
from them the individual proceeds to the contemplation of his
own inner being, and thereby the advance is made to the per-
ception of the relation between the two. Then inactive con-
templation is quitted for activity; by the close of day man has
erected a building constructed from his own inner Sun; and
when in the evening he contemplates this, he esteems it more
highly than the original external Sun. For now he stands in a
conscious relation to his Spirit, and therefore a free relation.
If we hold this image fast in mind, we shall find it symbolizing
the course of History, the great Day's work of Spirit.
The History of the World travels from East to West, for
Europe is absolutely the end of History, Asia the beginning.
The History of the World has an East tear e^o^nv ; (the term
East in itself is entirely relative), for although the Earth forms
a sphere, History performs no circle round it, but has on the
contrary a determinate East, viz., Asia. Here rises the outward
physical Sun, and in the West it sinks down : here consentane-
ously rises the Sun of self-consciousness, which diffuses a
103
104 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
nobler brilliance. The History of the World is the discipline
of the uncontrolled natural will, bringing it into obedience to
a Universal principle and conferring subjective freedom. The
East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free ;
the Greek and Roman world, that some are free; the German
World knows that All are free. The first political form there-
fore which we observe in History, is Despotism, the second
Democracy and Aristocracy, the third Monarchy.
To understand this division we must remark that as the
State is the universal spiritual life, to which individuals by
birth sustain a relation of confidence and habit, and in which
they have their existence and reality — the first question is,
whether their actual life is an unreflecting use and habit com-
bining them in this unity, or whether its constituent individuals
are reflective and personal beings having a properly subjective
and independent existence. In view of this, substantial [objec-
tive] freedom must be distinguished from subjective freedom.
Substantial freedom is the abstract undeveloped Reason im-
plicit in volition, proceeding to develop itself in the State. But
in this phase of Reason there is still wanting personal insight
and will, that is, subjective freedom; which is realized only
in the Individual, and which constitutes the reflection of the
Individual in his own conscience.* Where there is merely
substantial freedom, commands and laws are regarded as some-
thing fixed and abstract, to which the subject holds himself in
absolute servitude. These laws need not concur with the desire
of the individual, and the subjects are consequently like chil-
dren, who obey their parents without will or insight of their
own. But as subjective freedom arises, and man descends from
the contemplation of external reality into his own soul, the
contrast suggested by reflection arises, involving the Negation
of Reality. The drawing back from the actual world forms
ipso facto an antithesis, of which one side is the absolute Being
— the Divine — the other the human subject as an individual.
In that immediate, unreflected consciousness which character-
* The essence of Spirit is self-determin- or several), and obeys it as if it were an
ation or " Freedom. Where Spirit has alien, extraneous force, not the voice of
attained mature growth, as in the man that Spirit of which he himself (though
who acknowledges the absolute validity at this stage imperfectly) is an embodi-
of the dictates of Conscience, the Indi- ment. The Philosophy of History ex-
vidual is " a law to himself," and this hibits the successive stages by which he
Freedom is " realized." But in lower reaches the consciousness, that it is Ml
stages of morality and civilization, he own inmost being that thus governs him
unconsciously projects this legislative prin- — i.e. a consciousness of seTf-determinat
ciple into some governing power " (one tion or " Freedom," — Ed.
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORIC DATA 105
izes the East, these two are not yet distinguished. The sub-
stantial world is distinct from the individual, but the antithesis
has not yet created a schism between (absolute and subjective)
Spirit.
The first phase — that with which we have to begin — is the
East. Unreflected consciousness — substantial, objective, spir-
itual existence — forms the basis; to which the subjective will
first sustains a relation in the form of faith, confidence, obedi-
ence. In the political life of the East we find a realized rational
freedom, developing itself without advancing to subjective free-
dom. It is the childhood of History. Substantial forms consti-
tute the gorgeous edifices of Oriental Empires in which we find
all rational ordinances and arrangements, but in such a way,
that individuals remain as mere accidents. These revolve round
a centre, round the sovereign, who, as patriarch — not as despot
in the sense of the Roman Imperial Constitution — stands at the
head. For he has to enforce the moral and substantial : he has
to uphold those essential ordinances which are already estab-
lished; so that what among us belongs entirely to subjective
freedom, here proceeds from the entire and general body of
the State. The glory of Oriental conception is the One Indi-
vidual as that substantial being to which all belongs, so that
no other individual has a separate, existence, or mirrors himself
in his subjective freedom. All the riches of imagination and
Nature are appropriated to that dominant existence in which
subjective freedom is essentially merged ; the latter looks for
its dignity not in itself, but in that absolute object. All the
elements of a complete State — even subjectivity — may be found
there, but not yet harmonized with the grand substantial being.
For outside the One Power — before which nothing can main-
tain an independent existence — there is only revolting caprice,
which, beyond the limits of the central power, roves at will
without purpose or result. Accordingly we find the wild hordes
breaking out from the Upland — falling upon the countries in
question, and laying them waste, or settling down in them, and
giving up their wild life; but in all cases resultlessly lost in
the central substance. This phase of Substantiality, since it has
not taken up its antithesis into itself and overcome it, directly
divides itself into two elements. On the one side we see dura-
tion, stability — Empires belonging to mere space, as it were
(as distinguished from Time) — unhistorical History; — as for
106 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
example, in China, the State based on the Family relation; —
a paternal Government, which holds together the constitution
by its provident care, its admonitions, retributive or rather
disciplinary inflictions ; — a prosaic Empire, because the antith-
esis of Form, viz., Infinity, Ideality, has not yet asserted itself.
On the other side, the Form of Time stands contrasted with
this spatial stability. The States in question, without under-
going any change in themselves, or in the principle of their
existence, are constantly changing their position towards each
other. They are in ceaseless conflict, which brings on rapid
destruction. The opposing principle of individuality enters into
these conflicting relations; but it is itself as yet only uncon-
scious, merely natural Universality — Light, which is not yet
the light of the personal soul. This History, too (i.e., of the
struggles before-mentioned) is, for the most part, really unhis-
torical, for it is only the repetition of the same majestic ruin.
The new element, which in the shape of bravery, prowess, mag-
nanimity, occupies the place of the previous despotic pomp,
goes through the same circle of decline and subsidence. This
subsidence is therefore not really such, for through all this rest-
less change no advance is made. History passes at this point —
and only outwardly, i.e., without connection with the previous
phase — to Central Asia. Continuing the comparison with the
ages of the individual man, this would be the boyhood of His-
tory, no longer manifesting the repose and trustingness of the
child, but boisterous and turbulent. The Greek World may then
be compared with the period of adolescence, for here we have
individualities forming themselves. This is the second main
principle in human History. Morality is, as in Asia, a prin-
ciple ; but it is morality impressed on individuality, and conse-
quently denoting the free volition of Individuals. Here, then,
is the Union of the Moral with the subjective Will, or the
Kingdom of Beautiful Freedom, for the Idea is united with
a plastic form. It is not yet regarded abstractedly, but imme-
diately bound up with the Real, as in a beautiful work of Art;
the Sensuous bears the stamp and expression of the Spiritual.
This Kingdom is consequently true Harmony ; the world of
the most charming, but perishable or quickly passing bloom:
it is the natural, unreflecting observance of what is becoming —
not yet true Morality. The individual will of the Subject
adopts unreflectingly the conduct and habit prescribed by Jus-
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORIC DATA 107
tice and the Laws. The Individual is therefore in uncon-
scious unity with the Idea — the social weal. That which in the
East is divided into two extremes — the substantial as such, and
the individuality absorbed in it — meets here. But these distinct
principles are only immediately in unity, and consequently in-
volve the highest degree of contradiction ; for this aesthetic
Morality has not yet passed through the struggle of subjective
freedom, in its second birth, its palingenesis; it is not yet puri-
fied to the standard of the free subjectivity that is the essence
of true morality.
The third phase is the realm of abstract Universality (in
which the Social aim absorbs all individual aims) : it is the
Roman State, the severe labors of the Manhood of History.
For true manhood acts neither in accordance with the caprice
of a despot, nor in obedience to a graceful caprice of its own;
but works for a general aim, one in which the individual per-
ishes and realizes his own private object only in that general
aim. The State begins to have an abstract existence, and to
develop itself for a definite object, in accomplishing which its
members have indeed a share, but not a complete and concrete
one [calling their whole being into play] . Free individuals are
sacrificed to the severe demands of the National objects, to
which they must surrender themselves in this service of abstract
generalization. The Roman State is not a repetition of such
a State of Individuals as the Athenian Polis was. The genial-
ity and joy of soul that existed there have given place to harsh
and rigorous toil. The interest of History is detached from
individuals, but these gain for themselves abstract, formal
Universality. The Universal subjugates the individuals ; they
have to merge their own interests in it ; but in return the ab-
straction which they themselves embody — that is to say, their
personality — is recognized: in their individual capacity they
become persons with definite rights as such. In the same sense
as individuals may be said to be incorporated in the abstract
idea of Person, National Individualities (those of the Roman
Provinces) have also to experience this fate: in this form of
Universality their concrete forms are crushed, and incorporated
with it as a homogeneous and indifferent mass. Rome be-
comes a Pantheon of all deities, and of all Spiritual existence,
but these divinities and this Spirit do not retain their proper
vitality. — The development of the State in question proceeds
Vol. 23 F — Classics
108 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in two directions. On the one hand, as based on reflection-
abstract Universality — it has the express outspoken antithesis
in itself: it therefore essentially involves in itself the struggle
which that antithesis supposes; with the necessary issue, that
individual caprice — the purely contingent and thoroughly
worldly power of one despot — gets the better of that abstract
universal principle. At the very outset we have the antithesis
between the Aim of the State as the abstract universal principle
on the one hand, and the abstract personality of the individual
on the other hand. But when subsequently, in the historical
development, individuality gains the ascendant, and the break-
ing up of the community into its component atoms can only be
restrained by external compulsion, then the subjective might of
individual despotism comes forward to play its part, as if sum-
moned to fulfil this task. For the mere abstract compliance
with Law implies on the part of the subject of law the supposi-
tion that he has not attained to self-organization and self-con-
trol ; and this principle of obedience, instead of being hearty and
voluntary, has for its motive and ruling power only the arbi-
trary and contingent disposition of the individual ; so that the
latter is led to seek consolation for the loss of his freedom in
exercising and developing his private right. This is the purely
zvorldly harmonization of the antithesis. But in the next place,
the pain inflicted by Despotism begins to be felt, and Spirit
driven back into its utmost depths, leaves the godless world,
seeks for a harmony in itself, and begins now an inner life —
a complete concrete subjectivity, which possesses at the same
time a substantiality that is not grounded in mere external ex-
istence. Within the soul therefore arises the Spiritual pacifica-
tion of the struggle, in the fact that the individual personality,
instead of following its own capricious choice, is purified and
elevated into universality ; — a subjectivity that of its own free
will adopts principles tending to the good of all — reaches, in
fact, a divine personality. To that worldly empire, this Spir-
itual one wears a predominant aspect of opposition, as the em-
pire of a subjectivity that has attained to the knowledge of
itself — itself in its essential nature—the Empire of Spirit in
its full sense.
The German world appears at this point of development —
the fourth phase oi World-History. This would answer in the
comparison with the periods of human life to its Old Age. The
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORIC DATA 109
Old Age of Nature is weakness ; but that of Spirit is its perfect
maturity and strength, in which it returns to unity with itself,
but in its fully developed character as Spirit. — This fourth
phase begins with the Reconciliation presented in Christianity ;
but only in the germ, without national or political development.
We must therefore regard it as commencing rather with the
enormous contrast between the spiritual, religious principle,
and the barbarian Real World. For Spirit as the consciousness
of an inner World is, at the commencement, itself still in an
abstract form. All that is secular is consequently given over
to rudeness and capricious violence. The Mohammedan prin-
ciple — the enlightenment of the Oriental World — is the first to
contravene this barbarism and caprice. We find it developing
itself later and more rapidly than Christianity; for the latter
needed eight centuries to grow up into a political form. But
that principle of the German World which we are now dis-
cussing, attained concrete reality only in the history of the
German Nations. The contrast of the Spiritual principle
animating the Ecclesiastical State, with the rough and wild
barbarism of the Secular State, is here likewise present.
The Secular ought to be in harmony with the Spiritual prin-
ciple, but we find nothing more than the recognition of that
obligation. The Secular power forsaken by the Spirit, must
in the first instance vanish in presence of the Ecclesiastical (as
representative of Spirit) ; but while this latter degrades itself
to mere secularity, it loses its influence with the loss of its
proper character and vocation. From this corruption of the
Ecclesiastical element — that is, of the Church — results the
higher form of rational thought. Spirit once more driven back
upon itself, produces its work in an intellectual shape, and be-
comes capable of realizing the Ideal of Reason from the Sec-
ular principle alone. Thus it happens, that in virtue of ele-
ments of Universality, which have the principle of Spirit as
their basis, the empire of Thought is established actually and
concretely. The antithesis of Church and State vanishes. The
Spiritual becomes reconnected with the Secular, and develops
this latter as an independently organic existence. The State
no longer occupies a position of real inferiority to the Church,
and is no longer subordinate to it. The latter asserts no pre-
rogative, and the Spiritual is no longer an element foreign to
the State. Freedom has found the means of realizing its Ideal
no PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
— its true existence. This is the ultimate result which the
process of History is intended to accomplish, and we have to
traverse in detail the long track which has been thus cursorily
traced out. Yet length of Time is something entirely relative,
and the element of Spirit is Eternity. Duration, properly
speaking, cannot be said to belong to it.
PART I
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
WE have to begin with the Oriental World, but not be-
fore the period in which we discover States in it.
The diffusion of Language and the formation of
races lie beyond the limits of History. History is prose, and
myths fall short of History. The consciousness of external
definite existence only arises in connection with the power to
form abstract distinctions and assign abstract predicates ; and
in proportion as a capacity for expressing Laws (of natural or
social life) is acquired, in the same proportion does the ability
manifest itself to comprehend objects in an unpoetical form.
While the ante-historical is that which precedes political life,
it also lies beyond self-cognizant life; though surmises and
suppositions may be entertained respecting that period, these
do not amount to facts. The Oriental World has as its inherent
and distinctive principle the Substantial (the Prescriptive), in
Morality. We have the first example of a sub j Ligation of the
mere arbitrary will, which is merged in this substantiality.
Moral distinctions and requirements are expressed as Laws,
but so that the subjective will is governed by these Laws as by
an external force. Nothing sLibjective in the shape of disposi-
tion, Conscience, formal Freedom, is recognized. Justice is
administered only on the basis of external morality, and
Government exists only as the prerogative of compulsion.
Our civil law contains indeed some purely compulsory ordi-
nances. I can be compelled to give up another man's property,
or to keep an agreement which I have made ; but the Moral
is not placed by us in the mere compulsion, but in the disposition
of the subjects — their sympathy with the requirements of law.
Morality is in the East likewise a subject of positive legislation,
and although the moral prescriptions (the substance of their
H2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Ethics) may be perfect, what should be internal subjective sen-
timent is made a matter of external arrangement. There is
no want of a will to command moral actions, but of a will to
perform them because commanded from within. Since Spirit
has not yet attained subjectivity, it wears the appearance of
spirituality still involved in the conditions of Nature. Since
the external and the internal, Law and Moral Sense, are not
yet distinguished — still form an undivided unity — so also do
Religion and the State. The Constitution generally is a Theoc-
racy, and the Kingdom of God is to the same extent also a
secular Kingdom as the secular Kingdom is also divine. What
we call God has not yet in the East been realized in conscious-
ness, for our idea of God involves an elevation of the soul to
the supersensual. While we obey, because what we are re-
quired to do is confirmed by an internal sanction, there the Law
is regarded as inherently and absolutely valid without a sense
of the want of this subjective confirmation. In the law men
recognize not their own will, but one entirely foreign.
Of the several parts of Asia we have already eliminated as
unhistorical, Upper Asia (so far and so long as its Nomad
population do not appear on the scene of history), and Siberia.
The rest of the Asiatic World is divided into four districts:
first, the River- Plains, formed by the Yellow and Blue Stream,
and the Upland of farther Asia — China and the Mongols. Sec-
ondly, the valley of the Ganges and that of the Indus. The
third theatre of History comprises the river-plains of the Oxus
and Jaxartes, the Upland of Persia, and the other valley-plains
of the Euphrates and Tigris, to which Hither-Asia attaches
itself. Fourthly, the River-plain of the Nik.
With China and the Mongols — the realm of theocratic des-
potism — History begins. Both have the patriarchal constitu-
tion for their principle — so modified in China, as to admit the
development of an organized system of secular polity ; while
among the Mongols it limits itself to the simple form of a
spiritual, religious sovereignty. In China the Monarch is Chief
as Patriarch. The laws of the state are partly civil ordinances,
partly moral requirements ; so that the internal law — the knowl-
edge on the part of the individual of the nature of his volition,
as his own inmost self — even this is the subject of external
statutory enactment. The sphere of subjectivity does not then,
attain to maturity here, since moral laws are treated as legisla-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 113
tive enactments, and law on its part has an ethical aspect. All
that we call subjectivity is concentrated in the supreme head of
the State, who, in all his legislation has an eye to the health,
wealth, and benefit of the whole. Contrasted with this secular
Empire is the spiritual sovereignty of the Mongols, at the head
of which stands the Lama, who is honored as God. In this
Spiritual Empire no secular political life can be developed.
In the second phase — the Indian realm — we see the unity
of political organization — a perfect civil machinery, such as
exists in China — in the first instance, broken up. The several
powers of society appear as dissevered and free in relation to
each other. The different castes are indeed, fixed ; but in view
of the religious doctrine that established them, they wear the
aspect of natural distinctions. Individuals are thereby still
further stripped of proper personality — although it might ap-
pear as if they derived gain from the development of the dis-
tinctions in question. For though we find the organization
of the State no longer, as in China, determined and arranged
by the one all-absorbing personality (the head of the State)
the distinctions that exist are attributed to Nature, and so be-
come differences of Caste. The unity in which these divisions
must finally meet, is a religious one; and thus arises Theo-
cratic Aristocracy and its despotism. Here begins, therefore,
the distinction between the spiritual consciousness and secular
conditions; but as the separation implied in the above men-
tioned distinctions is the cardinal consideration, so also we find
in the religion the principle of the isolation of the constituent
elements of the Idea; — a principle which posits the harshest
antithesis — the conception of the purely abstract unity of God,
and of the purely sensual Powers of Nature. The connection
of the two is only a constant change — a restless hurrying from
one extreme to the other — a wild chaos of fruitless variation,
which must appear as madness to a duly regulated, intelligent
consciousness.
The third important form — presenting a contrast to the im-
movable unity of China and to the wild and turbulent unrest
of India — is the Persian Realm. China is quite peculiarly Ori-
ental ; India we might compare with Greece ; Persia on the
other hand with Rome. In Persia namely, the Theocratic
power appears as a Monarchy. Now Monarchy is that kind
of constitution which does indeed unite the members of the
Ii 4 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
body politic in the head of the government as in a point ; but
regards that head neither as the absolute director nor the arbi-
trary ruler, but as a power whose will is regulated by the same
principle of law as the obedience of the subject. We have thus
a general principle, a Law, lying at the basis of the whole, but
which, still regarded as a dictum of mere Nature (not as free
and absolute Truth) is clogged by an antithesis (that of formal
freedom on the part of man as commanded to obey positive
alien requirements). The representation, therefore, which
Spirit makes of itself is, at this grade of progress, of a purely
natural kind — Light. This Universal principle is as much a
regulative one for the monarch as for each of his subjects,
and the Persian Spirit is accordingly clear, illuminated — the
idea of a people living in pure morality, as in a sacred com-
munity. But this has on the one hand as a merely natural
Ecclesia, the above antithesis still unreconciled ; and its sanc-
tity displays the characteristics of a compulsory, external one.
On the other hand this antithesis is exhibited in Persia in its
being the Empire of hostile peoples, and the union of the most
widely differing nations. The Persian Unity is not that ab-
stract one of the Chinese Empire; it is adapted to rule over
many and various nationalities, which it unites under the mild
power of Universality as a beneficial Sun shining over all —
waking them into life and cherishing their growth. This Uni-
versal principle — occupying the position of a root only — allows
the several members a free growth for unrestrained expansion
and ramification. In the organization of these several peoples,
the various principles and forms of life have full play and con-
tinue to exist together. We find in this multitude of nations,
roving Nomades; then we see in Babylonia and Syria com-
merce and industrial pursuits in full vigor, the wildest sensual-
ity, the most uncontrolled turbulence. The coasts mediate a
connection with foreign lands. In the midst of this confusion
the spiritual God of the Jews arrests our attention — like Brahm,
existing only for Thought, yet jealous and excluding from his
being and abolishing all distinct speciality of manifestations
[avatars], such as are freely allowed in other religions. This
Persian Empire, then — since it can tolerate these several prin-
ciples, exhibits the Antithesis in a lively active form, and is
not shut up within itself, abstract and calm, as are China and
India — makes a real transition in the History of the t World.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 115
If Persia forms the external transition to Greek life, the
internal, mental transition is mediated by Egypt. Here the
antitheses in their abstract form are broken through ; a break-
ing through which effects their nullification. This undeveloped
reconciliation exhibits the struggle of the most contradictory
principles, which are not yet capable of harmonizing them-
selves, but, setting up the birth of this harmony as the prob-
lem to be solved, make themselves a riddle for themselves and
for others, the solution of which is only to be found in the
Greek World.
If we compare these kingdoms in the light of their various
fates, we find the empire of the two Chinese rivers the only
durable kingdom in the World. Conquests cannot affect such
an empire. The world of the Ganges and the Indus has also
been preserved. A state of things so destitute of (distinct)
thought is likewise imperishable, but it is in its very nature
destined to be mixed with other races — to be conquered and
subjugated. While these two realms have remained to the
present day, of the empires of the Tigris and Euphrates on the
contrary nothing remains, except, at most, a heap of bricks ;
for the Persian Kingdom, as that of Transition, is by nature
perishable, and the Kingdoms of the Caspian Sea are given up
to the ancient struggle of Iran and Turan. The Empire of the
solitary Nile is only present beneath the ground, in its speech-
less Dead, ever and anon stolen away to all quarters of the
globe, and in their majestic habitations; — for what remains
above ground is nothing else but such splendid tombs.
SECTION I
CHINA
WITH the Empire of China History has to begin, for it
is the oldest, as far as history gives us any informa-
tion ; and its principle has such substantiality, that for
the empire in question it is at once the oldest and the newest.
Early do we see China advancing to the condition in which it
is found at this day ; for as the contrast between objective exist-
ence and subjective freedom of movement in it, is still wanting,
every change is excluded, and the fixedness of a character which
recurs perpetually, takes the place of what we should call the
truly historical. China and India lie, as it were, still outside the
World's History, as the mere presupposition of elements whose
combination must be waited for to constitute their vital prog-
ress. The unity of substantiality and subjective freedom so en-
tirely excludes the distinction and contrast of the two elements,
that by this very fact, substance cannot arrive at reflection on
itself — at subjectivity. The Substantial [Positive] in its moral
aspect, rules therefore, not as the moral disposition of the Sub-
ject, but as the despotism of the Sovereign.
No People has a so strictly continuous series of Writers of
History as the Chinese. Other Asiatic peoples also have ancient
traditions, but no History. The Vedas of the Indians are not
such. The traditions of the Arabs are very old, but are not
attached to a political constitution and its development. But
such a constitution exists in China, and that in a distinct and
prominent form. The Chinese traditions ascend to 3000 years
before Christ ; and the Shu-King, their canonical document, be-
ginning with the government of Yao, places this 2357 years
before Christ. It may here be incidentally remarked, that the
other Asiatic kingdoms also reach a high antiquity. Accord-
ing to the calculation of an English writer, the Egyptian his-
tory (e.g.) reaches to 2207 years before Christ, the Assyrian to
2221, the Indian to 2204. Thus the traditions respecting the
116
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 117
principal kingdoms of the East reach to about 2300 years be-
fore the birth of Christ. Comparing this with the history of the
Old Testament, a space of 2400 years, according to the common
acceptation, intervened between the Noachian Deluge and the
Christian era. But Johannes von Muller has adduced weighty
objections to this number. He places the Deluge in the year
3473 before Christ — thus about 1000 years earlier — supporting
his view by the Septuagint. I remark this only with the view
of obviating a difficulty that may appear to arise when we meet
with dates of a higher age than 2400 years before Christ, and yet
find nothing about the Flood. — The Chinese have certain an-
cient canonical documents, from which their history, consti-
tution, and religion can be gathered. The Vedas and the Mo-
saic records are similar books ; as also the Homeric poems.
Among the Chinese these books are called Kings, and consti-
tute the foundation of all their studies. The Shu-King contains
their history, treats of the government of the ancient kings, and
gives the statutes enacted by this or that monarch. The Y-King
consists of figures, which have been regarded as the bases of the
Chinese written character, and this book is also considered the
groundwork of the Chinese Meditation. For it begins with the
abstractions of Unity and Duality, and then treats of the con-
crete existences pertaining to these abstract forms of thought.
Lastly, the Shi-King is the book of the oldest poems in a great
variety of styles. The high officers of the kingdom were an-
ciently commissioned" to bring with them to the annual festival
all the poems composed in their province within the year. The
Emperor in full court was the judge of these poems, and those
recognized as good received public approbation. Besides these
three books of archives which are specially honored and studied,
there are besides two others, less important, viz. the Li-Ki (or
Li-King) which records the customs and ceremonial observ-
ances pertaining to the Imperial dignity, and that of the State
functionaries (with an appendix, Yo-King, treating of music) ;
and the Tshun-tsin, the chronicle of the kingdom Lu, where
Confucius appeared. These books are the groundwork of the
history, the manners and the laws of China.
This empire early attracted the attention of Europeans, al-
though only vague stories about it had reached them. It was
always marvelled at as a country which, self-originated, ap-
peared to have no connection with the outer world.
n8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
In the thirteenth century a Venetian (Marco Polo) explored
it for the first time, but his reports were deemed fabulous. In
later times, everything that he had said respecting its extent
and greatness was entirely confirmed. By the lowest calcula-
tion, China has 150,000,000 of inhabitants; another makes the
number 200,000,000, and the highest raises it even to 300,000,-
000. From the far north it stretches towards the south to India ;
on the east it is bounded by the vast Pacific, and on the west it
extends towards Persia and the Caspian. China Proper is over-
populated. On both rivers, the Hoang-ho and the Yang-tse-
Kiang, dwell many millions of human beings, living on rafts
adapted to all the requirements of their mode of life. The popu-
lation and the thoroughly organized State-arrangements, de-
scending even to the minutest details, have astonished Euro-
peans ; and a matter of especial astonishment is the accuracy
with which their historical works are executed. For in China
the Historians are some of the highest functionaries. Two
ministers constantly in attendance on the Emperor, are com-
missioned to keep a journal of everything the Emperor does,
commands, and says, and their notes are then worked up and
made use of by the Historians. We cannot go further into the
minutiae of their annals, which, as they themselves exhibit no
development, would only hinder us in ours. Their History
ascends to very ancient times, in which Fohi is named as the
Diffuser of culture, he having been the original civilizer of
China. He is said to have lived in the twenty-ninth century be-
fore Christ — before the time, therefore, at which the Shu-King
begins ; but the mythical and prehistorical is treated by Chi-
nese Historians as perfectly historical. The first region of
Chinese history is the north-western corner — China Proper —
towards that point where the Hoang-ho descends from the
mountains ; for only at a later period did the Chinese empire
extend itself towards the south, to the Yang-tse-Kiang. The
narrative begins with the period in which men lived in a wild
state, i.e. in the woods, when they fed on the fruits of the earth,
and clothed themselves with the skins of wild beasts. There
was no recognition of definite laws among them. To Fohi (who
must be duly distinguished from Fo, the founder of a new
religion) is ascribed the instruction of men in building them-
selves huts and making dwellings. He is said to have directed
their attention to the change and return of seasons, to barter
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 119
and trade ; to have established marriage ; to have taught that
Reason came from Heaven, and to have given instructions for
rearing silkworms, building bridges, and making use of beasts
of burden. The Chinese historians are very diffuse on the sub-
ject of these various origins. The progress of the history is the
extension of the culture thus originated, to the south, and the
beginning of a state and a government. The great Empire
which had thus gradually been formed, was soon broken up
into many provinces, which carried on long wars with each
other, and were then re-united into a Whole. The dynasties
in China have often been changed, and the one now dominant
is generally marked as the twenty-second. In connection with
the rise and fall of these dynasties arose the different capital
cities that are found in this empire. For a long time Nankin
was the capital; now it is Pekin; at an earlier period other
cities. China has been compelled to wage many wars with the
Tartars, who penetrated far into the country. The long wall
built by Shi-hoang-ti — and which has always been regarded as
a most astounding achievement — was raised as a barrier against
the inroads of the northern Nomades. This prince divided the
whole empire into thirty-six provinces, and made himself es-
pecially remarkable by his attacks on the old literature, espe-
cially on the historical books and historical studies generally.
He did this with the design of strengthening his own dynasty,
by destroying the remembrance of the earlier one. After the
historical books had been collected and burned, many hun-
dreds of the literati fled to the mountains, in order to save what
remained. Every one that fell into the Emperor's hands ex-
perienced the same fate as the books. This Book-burning is a
very important circumstance, for in spite of it the strictly canon-
ical books were saved, as is generally the case. The first con-
nection of China with the West occurred about 64 a.d. At that
epoch a Chinese emperor despatched ambassadors (it is said) to
visit the wise sages of the West. Twenty years later a Chinese
general is reported to have penetrated as far as Judea. At the
beginning of the eighth century after Christ, the first Christians
are reputed to have gone to China, of which visit later visitors
assert that they found traces and monuments. A Tartar king-
dom, Lyau-Tong, existing in the north of China, is said to have
been reduced and taken possession of by the Chinese with the
help of the Western Tartars, about 1100 a.d. This, neverthe-
120 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
less, gave these very Tartars an opportunity of securing a foot-
ing in China. Similarly they admitted the Manchus with whom
they engaged in war in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
which resulted in the present dynasty's obtaining possession of
the throne. Yet this new dynasty has not effected further
change in the country, any more than did the earlier conquest
of the Mongols in the year 1281. The Manchus that live in
China have to conform to Chinese laws, and study Chinese sci-
ences.
We pass now from these few dates in Chinese history to the
contemplation of the Spirit of the constitution, which has al-
ways remained the same. We can deduce it from the general
principle, which is, the immediate unity of the substantial Spirit
and the Individual ; but this is equivalent to the Spirit of the
Family, which' is here extended over the most populous of
countries. The element of Subjectivity — that is to say, the re-
flection upon itself of the individual will in antithesis to the
Substantial (as the power in which it is absorbed) or the recog-
nition of this power as one with its own essential being, in which
it knows itself free — is not found on this grade of development.
The universal Will displays its activity immediately through
that of the individual : the latter has no self-cognizance at all in
antithesis to Substantial, positive being, which it does not yet
regard as a power standing over against it — as, (e.g.) in Judaism,
the " Jealous God " is known as the negation of the Individual.
In China the Universal Will immediately commands what the
Individual is to do, and the latter complies and obeys with pro-
portionate renunciation of reflection and personal independence.
If he does not obey, if he thus virtually separates himself from
the Substance of his being, inasmuch as this separation is not
mediated by a retreat within a personality of his own, the pun-
ishment he undergoes does not affect his subjective and in-
ternal, but simply his outward existence. The element of sub-
jectivity is therefore as much wanting to this political totality
as the latter is on its side altogether destitute of a foundation
in the moral disposition of the subject. For the Substance is
simply an individual — the Emperor — whose law constitutes all
the disposition. Nevertheless, this ignoring of inclination does
not imply caprice, which would itself indicate inclination —
that is, subjectivity and mobility. Here we have the One Be-
ing of the State supremely dominant — the Substance, which,
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 121
still hard and inflexible, resembles nothing but itself — includes
no other element.
This relation, then, expressed more definitely and more con-
formably with its conception, is that of the Family. On this
form of moral union alone rests the Chinese State, and it is
objective Family Piety that characterizes it. The Chinese re-
gard themselves as belonging to their family, and at the same
time as children of the State. In the Family itself they are not
personalities, for the consolidated unity in which they exist as
members of it is consanguinity and natural obligation. In the
State they have as little independent personality ; for there the
patriarchal relation is predominant, and the government is
based on the paternal management of the Emperor, who keeps
all departments of the State in order. Five duties are stated
in the Shu-King as involving grave and unchangeable funda-
mental relations. 1. The mutual one of the Emperor and peo-
ple. 2. Of the Fathers and Children. 3. Of an elder and
younger brother. 4. Of Husband and Wife. 5. Of Friend and
Friend. It may be here incidentally remarked, that the number
Five is regarded as fundamental among the Chinese, and pre-
sents itself as often as the number Three among us. They
have five Elements of Nature — Air, Water, Earth, Metal, and
Wood. They recognize four quarters of Heaven and a cen-
tre. Holy places, where altars are erected, consist of four ele-
vations, and one in the centre.
The duties of the Family are absolutely binding, and estab-
lished and regulated by law. The son may not accost the
father, when he comes into the room ; he must seem to con-
tract himself to nothing at the side of the door, and may not
leave the room without his father's permission. When the
father dies, the son must mourn for three years — abstaining
from meat and wine. The business in which he was engaged,
even that of the State, must be suspended, for he is obliged to
quit it. Even the Emperor, who has just commenced his gov-
ernment, does not devote himself to his duties during this time.
No marriage may be contracted in the family within the period
of mourning. Only the" having reached his fiftieth year ex-
empts the bereaved from the excessive strictness of the regula-
tions, which are then relaxed that he may not be reduced in
person by them. The sixtieth year relaxes them still further,
and the seventieth limits mourning to the color of the dress.
122 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
A mother is honored equally with a father. When Lord Ma-
cartney saw the Emperor, the latter was sixty-eight years old,
(sixty years is among the Chinese a fundamental round num-
ber, as one hundred is among us), notwithstanding which he
visited his mother every morning on foot, to demonstrate his
respect for hen The New Year's congratulations are offered
even to the mother of the Emperor ; and the Emperor himself
cannot receive the homage of the grandees of the court until
he has paid his to his mother. The latter is the first and con-
stant counsellor of her son, and all announcements concerning
his family are made in her name. — The merits of a son are as-
cribed not to him, but to his father. When on one occasion the
prime minister asked the Emperor to confer titles of honor on
his father, the Emperor issued an edict in which it was said:
" Famine was desolating the Empire : Thy father gave rice to
the starving. What beneficence ! The Empire was on the edge
of ruin : Thy father defended it at the hazard of his life. What
fidelity ! The government of the kingdom was intrusted to thy
father : he made excellent laws, maintained peace and concord
with the neighboring princes, and asserted the rights of my
crown. What wisdom ! The title therefore which I award to
him is: Beneficent, Faithful and Wise." — The Son had done
all that is here ascribed to the Father. In this way ancestors —
a fashion the reverse of ours — obtain titles of honor through
their posterity. But in return, every Father of a Family is
responsible for the transgressions of his descendants ; duties
ascend, but none can be properly said to descend.
It is a great object with the Chinese, to have children who
may give them the due honors of burial, pay respect to their
memory after death, and decorate their grave. Although a
Chinese may have many wives, one only is the mistress of the
house, and the children of the subordinate wives have to honor
her absolutely as a mother. If a Chinese husband has no chil-
dren by any of his wives, he may proceed to adoption with a
view to this posthumous honor. For it is an indispensable
requirement that the grave of parents be annually visited. Here
lamentations are annually renewed, and many, to give full vent
to their grief, remain there sometimes one or two months. The
body of a deceased father is often kept three or four months
in the house, and during this time no one may sit down on a
chair or sleep in a bed. Every family in China has a Hall of
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 123
Ancestors where all the members annually assemble ; thde are
placed representations of those who have filled exalted posts,
while the names of those men and women who have been of
less importance in the family are inscribed on tablets ; the whole
family then partake of a meal together, and the poor members
are entertained by the more wealthy. It is said that a Man-
darin who had become a Christian, having ceased to honor his
ancestors in this way, exposed himself to great persecutions on
the part of his relatives. The same minuteness of regulation
which prevails in the relation between father and children, char-
acterizes also that between the elder brother and the younger
ones. The former has, though in a less degree than parents,
claims to reverence.
This family basis is also the basis of the Constitution, if we
can speak of such. For although the Emperor has the right of
a Monarch, standing at the summit of a political edifice, he ex-
ercises it paternally. He is the Patriarch, and everything in the
State that can make any claim to reverence is attached to him.
For the Emperor is chief both in religious affairs and in sci-
ence — a subject which will be treated of in detail further on. —
This paternal care on the part of the Emperor, and the spirit
of his subjects — who like children do not advance beyond the
ethical principle of the family circle, and can gain for them-
selves no independent and civil freedom — makes the whole an
empire, administration, and social code, which is at the same
time moral and thoroughly prosaic — that is, a product of the
Understanding without free Reason and Imagination.
The Emperor claims the deepest reverence. In virtue of his
position he is obliged personally to manage the government,
and must himself be acquainted with and direct the legislative
business of the Empire, although the Tribunals give their assist-
ance. Notwithstanding this, there is little room for the exercise
of his individual will ; for the whole government is conducted
on the basis of certain ancient maxims of the Empire, while
his constant oversight is not the less necessary. The imperial
princes are therefore educated on the strictest plan. Their
physical frames are hardened by discipline, and the sciences are
their occupation from their earliest years. Their education is
conducted under the Emperor's superintendence, and they are
early taught that the Emperor is the head of the State and there-
fore must appear as the first and best in everything. An ex-
124 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
amination of the princes takes place every year, and a circum-
stantial report of the affair is published through the whole Em-
pire, which feels the deepest interest in these matters. China
has therefore succeeded in getting the greatest and best gov-
ernors, to whom the expression " Solomonian Wisdom " might
be applied; and the present Manchu dynasty has especially
distinguished itself by abilities of mind and body. All the
ideals of princes and of princely education which have been so
numerous and varied since the appearance of Fenelon's " Tele-
maque " are realized here. In Europe there can be no Solo-
mons. But here are the place and the necessity for such govern-
ment; since the rectitude, the prosperity, the security of all,
depend on the one impulse given to the first link in the entire
chain of this hierarchy. The deportment of the Emperor is
represented to us as in the highest degree simple, natural, noble
and intelligent. Free from a proud taciturnity or repelling hau-
teur in speech or manners, he lives in the consciousness of his
own dignity and in the exercise of imperial duties to whose
observance he has been disciplined from his earliest youth. Be-
sides the imperial dignity there is properly no elevated rank,
no nobility among the Chinese; only the princes of the im-
perial house, and the sons of the ministers enjoy any precedence
of the kind, and they rather by their position than by their
birth. Otherwise all are equal, and only those have a share in
the administration of affairs who have ability for it. Official
stations are therefore occupied by men of the greatest intellect
and education. The Chinese State has consequently been often
set up as an Ideal which may serve even us for a model.
The next thing to be considered is the administration of the
Empire. We cannot speak, in reference to China, of a Consti-
tution; for this would imply that individuals and corporations
have independent rights — partly in respect of their particular
interests, partly in respect of the entire State. This element
must be wanting here, and we can only speak of an administra-
tion of the Empire. In China, we have the reality of absolute
equality, and all the differences that exist are possible only in
connection with that administration, and in virtue of the worth
which a person may acquire, enabling him to fill a high post
in the Government. Since equality prevails in China, but with-
out any freedom, despotism is necessarily the mode of govern-
ment. Among us, men are equal only before the law, and in
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
125
the respect paid to the property of each ; but they have also
many interests and peculiar privileges, which must be guaran-
teed, if we are to have what we call freedom. But in the Chinese
Empire these special interests enjoy no consideration on their
own account, and the government proceeds from the Emperor
alone, who sets it in movement as a hierarchy of officials ot-
Mandarins. Of these, there are two kinds — learned and mil-
itary Mandarins — the latter corresponding to our Officers.
The Learned Mandarins constitute the higher rank, for, in
China, civilians take precedence of the military. Government
officials are educated at the schools; elementary schools are
instituted for obtaining elementary knowledge. Institutions
for higher cultivation, such as our Universities, may, perhaps,
be said not to exist. Those who wish to attain high official posts
must undergo several examinations — usually three in num-
ber. To the third and last examination — at which the Em-
peror himself is present — only those can be admitted who have
passed the first and second with credit ; and the reward for hav-
ing succeeded in this, is the immediate introduction into the
highest Council of the Empire. The sciences, an acquaintance
with which is especially required, are the History of the Em-
pire, Jurisprudence, and the science of customs and usages, and
of the organization and administration of government. Besides
this, the Mandarins are said to have a talent for poetry of the
most refined order. We have the means of judging of this, par-
ticularly from the Romance, Ju-kiao-li, or, " The Two Cousins,"
translated by Abel Remusat : in this, a youth is introduced who
having finished his studies, is endeavoring to attain high dig-
nities. The officers of the army, also, must have some mental
acquirements ; they too are examined ; but civil functionaries
enjoy, at stated above, far greater respect. At the great festivals
the Emperor appears with a retinue of two thousand Doctors,
i.e. Mandarins in Civil Offices, and the same number of military
Mandarins. (In the whole Chinese State, there are about 15,000
civil, and 20,000 military Mandarins.) The Mandarins who
have not yet obtained an office, nevertheless belong to the
Court, and are obliged to appear at the great festivals in the
Spring and Autumn, when the Emperor himself guides the
plough. These functionaries are divided into eight classes.
The first are those that attend the Emperor, then follow the
viceroys, and so on. The Emperor governs by means of admin-
126 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
istrative bodies, for the most part composed of Mandarins. The
Council of the Empire is the highest body of the kind : it con-
sists of the most learned and talented men. From these are
chosen the presidents of the other colleges. The greatest pub-
licity prevails in the business of government. The subordinate
officials report to the Council of the Empire, and the latter lay
the matter before the Emperor, whose decision is made known
in the Court Journal. The Emperor often accuses himself of
faults ; and should his princes have been unsuccessful in their
examination, he blames them severely. In every Ministry, and
in various parts of the Empire, there is a Censor (Ko-tao), who
has to give the Emperor an account of everything. These Cen-
sors enjoy a permanent office, and are very much feared. They
exercise a strict surveillance over everything that concerns the
government, and the public and private conduct of the Man-
darins, and make their report immediately to the Emperor.
They have also the right of remonstrating with and blaming
him. The Chinese History gives many examples of the noble-
mindedness and courage of these Ko-taos. For example : A
Censor had remonstrated with a tyrannical sovereign, but had
been severely repulsed. Nevertheless, he was not turned away
from his purpose, but betook himself once more to the Em-
peror to renew his remonstrances. Foreseeing his death, he
had the coffin brought in with him, in which he was to be
buried. It is related of the Censors, that — cruelly lacerated by
the torturers and unable to utter a sound — they have even
written their animadversions with their own blood in the sand.
These Censors themselves form yet another Tribunal which has
the oversight of the whole Empire. The Mandarins are respon-
sible also for performing duties arising from unforeseen exigen-
cies in the State. If famine, disease, conspiracy, religious dis-
turbances occur, they have to report the facts ; not, however, to
wait for further orders from government, but immediately to act
as the case requires. The whole of the administration is thus
covered by a network of officials. Functionaries are appointed
to superintend the roads, the rivers, and the coasts. Everything
is arranged with the greatest minuteness. In particular, great
attention is paid to the rivers ; in the Shu-King are to be found
many edicts of the Emperor, designed to secure the land from
inundations. The gates of every town are guarded by a watch,
and the streets are barred all night. Government officers are
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 127
always answerable to the higher Council. Every Mandarin is
also bound to make known the faults he has committed, every
five years ; and the trustworthiness of his statement is attested
by a Board of Control — the Censorship. In the case of any
grave crime not confessed, the Mandarins and their families
are punished most severely. From all this it is clear that the
Emperor is the centre, around which everything turns ; con-
sequently the well-being of the country and people depends on
him. The whole hierarchy of the administration works more
or less according to a settled routine, which in a peaceful con-
dition of things becomes a convenient habit. Uniform and reg-
ular, like the course of nature, it goes its own way, at one time
as at another time ; but the Emperor is required to be the mov-
ing, ever wakeful, spontaneously active Soul. If then the per-
sonal character of the Emperor is not of the order described —
namely, thoroughly moral, laborious, and while maintaining
dignity,. full of energy — everything is relaxed, and the govern-
ment is paralyzed from head to foot, and given over to care-
lessness and caprice. For there is no other legal power or insti-
tution extant, but this superintendence and oversight of the
Emperor. It is not their own conscience, their own honor,
which keeps the offices of government up to their duty, but an
external mandate and the severe sanctions by which it is sup-
ported. In the instance of the revolution that occurred in the
middle of the seventeenth century, the last Emperor of the
dynasty was very amiable and honorable ; but through the
mildness of his character, the reins of government were relaxed,
and disturbances naturally ensued. The rebels called the Man-
chus into the country. The Emperor killed himself to avoid
falling into the hands of his enemies, and with his blood wrote
on the border of his daughter's robe a few words, in which he
complained bitterly of the injustice of his subjects. A Man-
darin, who was with him, buried him, and then killed himself
on his grave. The Empress and her attendants followed the ex-
ample. The last prince of the imperial house, who was besieged
in a distant province, fell into the hands of the enemy and was
put to death. All the other attendant Mandarins died a volun-
tary death.
Passing from the administration to the Jurisprudence of
China, we find the subjects regarded as in a state of nonage, in
virtue of the principle of patriarchal government. No inde-
128 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
pendent classes or orders, as in India, have interests of their
own to defend. All is directed and superintended from above.
All legal relations are definitely settled by rules ; free sentiment
— the moral standpoint generally — is thereby thoroughly ob-
literated.* It is formally determined by the laws in what way
the members of the family should be disposed towards each
other, and the transgression of these laws entails in some cases
severe punishment. The second point to be noticed here, is
the legal externality of the Family relations, which becomes
almost slavery. Every one has the power of selling himself
and his children ; every Chinese buys his wife. Only the chief
wife is a free woman. The concubines are slaves, and — like the
children and every other chattel — may be seized upon in case
of confiscation.
A third point is, that punishments are generally corporal
chastisements. Among us, this would be an insult to honor;
not so in China, where the feeling of honor has not yet devel-
oped itself. A dose of cudgelling is the most easily forgotten ;
yet it is the severest punishment for a man of honor, who de-
sires not to be esteemed physically assailable, but who is vulner-
able in directions implying a more refined sensibility. But the
Chinese do not recognize a subjectivity in honor ; they are the
subjects rather of corrective than retributive punishment — as
are children among us ; for corrective punishment aims at im-
provement, that which is retributive implies veritable imputa-
tion of guilt. In the corrective, the deterring principle is only
the fear of punishment, not any consciousness of wrong; for
here we cannot presume upon any reflection upon the nature
of the action itself. Among the Chinese all crimes — those com-
mitted against the laws of the Family relation, as well as against
the State — are punished externally. Sons who fail in paying
due honor to their Father or Mother, younger brothers who are
not sufficiently respectful to elder ones, are bastinadoed. If
a son complains of injustice done to him by his father, or a
younger brother by an elder, he receives a hundred blows with
a bamboo, and is banished for three years, if he is in the right;
* It is evident that the term " moral terms, morality, moral government, etc.,
standpoint " is used here in the strict in reference to the Chinese; as they de-
sense in which Hegel has defined it, in note morality only in the loose and or-
his " Philosophy of Law," as that of the dinary meaning of the word — precepts or
self-determination of subjectivity, free commands given with a view to produc-
conviction of the Good. The reader, ing good behavior — without bringing
therefore, should not misunderstand the into relief the element of internal con-
use that continues to be made of the viction.— Ed.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
129
if not, he is strangled. If a son should raise his hand against
his father, he is condemned to have his flesh torn from his
body with red-hot pincers. The relation between husband and
wife is, like all other family relations, very highly esteemed, and
unfaithfulness — which, however, on account of the seclusion
in which the women are kept, can very seldom present itself —
meets with severe animadversion. Similar penalties await the
exhibition on the part of a Chinese of greater affection to one
of his inferior wives than to the matron who heads his estab-
lishment, should the latter complain of such disparagement.
In China, every Mandarin is authorized to inflict blows with
the bamboo ; even the highest and most illustrious — Ministers,
Viceroys, and even the favorites of the Emperor himself — are
punished in this fashion. The friendship of the Emperor is
not withdrawn on account of such chastisement, and they them-
selves appear not sensibly touched by it. When, on one occa-
sion, the last English embassy to China was conducted home
from the palace by the princes and their retinue, the Master
of the Ceremonies, in order to make room, without any cere-
mony cleared the way among the princes and nobles with a
whip.
As regards responsibility, the distinction between malice pre-
pense and blameless or accidental commission of an act is not
regarded ; for accident among the Chinese is as much charged
with blame, as intention. Death is the penalty of accidental
homicide. This ignoring of the distinction between accident
and intention occasions most of the disputes between the Eng-
lish and the Chinese ; for should the former be attacked by the
latter — should a ship of war, believing itself attacked, defend
itself, and a Chinese be killed as the consequence — the Chinese
are accustomed to require that the Englishman who fired the
fatal shot should lose his life. Everyone who is in any way
connected with the transgressor, shares — especially in the case
of crimes against the Emperor — the ruin of the actual offender :
all his near kinsmen are tortured to death. The printers of an
objectionable book and those who read it, are similarly exposed
to the vengeance of the law. The direction which this state
of things gives to private revenge is singular. It may be said
of the Chinese that they are extremely sensitive to injuries and
of a vindictive nature. To satisfy his revenge the offended per-
son does not venture to kill his opponent, because the whole
i 3 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
family of the assassin would be put to death; he therefore
inflicts an injury on himself, to ruin his adversary. In many
towns it has been deemed necessary to contract the openings of
wells, to put a stop to suicides by drowning. For when anyone
has committed suicide, the laws ordain that the strictest inves-
tigation shall be made into the cause. All the enemies of the
suicide are arrested and put to the torture, and if the person
who has committed the insult which led to the act, can be dis-
covered, he and his whole family are executed. In case of
insult therefore, a Chinese prefers killing himself rather than
his opponent; since in either case he must die, but in the for-
mer contingency will have the due honors of burial, and may
cherish the hope that his family will acquire the property of
his adversary. Such is the fearful state of things in regard to
responsibility and non- responsibility ; all subjective freedom
and moral concernment with an action are ignored. In the
Mosaic Laws, where the distinction between dolus, culpa, and
casus, is also not yet clearly recognized, there is nevertheless
an asylum opened for the innocent homicide, to which he may
betake himself. — There is in China no distinction in the penal
code between higher and lower classes. A field-marshal of the
Empire, who had very much distinguished himself, was tra-
duced on some account, to the Emperor; and the punishment
for the alleged crime, was that he should be a spy upon those
who did not fulfil their duty in clearing away the snow from
the streets. — Among the legal relations of the Chinese we have
also to notice changes in the rights of possession and the intro-
duction of slavery, which is connected there with it. The soil
of China, in which the chief possessions of the Chinese consist,
was regarded only at a late epoch as essentially the property
of the State. At that time the Ninth of all moneys from estates
was allotted by law to the Emperor. At a still later epoch serf-
dom was established, and its enactment has been ascribed to
the Emperor Shi-hoang-ti, who in the year 213 B.C., built the
Great Wall ; who had all the writings that recorded the ancient
rights of the Chinese, burned ; and who brought many inde-
pendent principalities of China under his dominion. His wars
caused the conquered lands to become private property, and
the dwellers on these lands, serfs. In China, however, the dis-
tinction between Slavery and freedom is necessarily, not great,
since all are equal before the Emperor — that is, all are alike
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 131
degraded. As no honor exists, and no one has an individual
right in respect of others, the consciousness of debasement pre-
dominates, and this easily passes into that of utter abandon-
ment. With this abandonment is connected the great immoral-
ity of the Chinese. They are notorious for deceiving wherever
they can. Friend deceives friend, and no one resents the at-
tempt at deception on the part of another, if the deceit has
not succeeded in its object, or comes to the knowledge of the
person sought to be defrauded. Their frauds are most astutely
and craftily performed, so that Europeans have to be painfully
cautious in dealing with them. Their consciousness of moral
abandonment shows itself also in the fact that the religion of
Fo is so widely diffused ; a religion which regards as the High-
est and Absolute — as God — pure Nothing; which sets up con-
tempt for individuality, for personal existence, as the highest
perfection.
We come, then, to the consideration of the religious side of
the Chinese Polity. In the patriarchal condition the religious
exaltation of man has merely a human reference — simple moral-
ity and right-doing. The Absolute itself, is regarded partly
as the abstract, simple rule of this right-doing — eternal recti-
tude; partly as the power which is its sanction. Except in
these simple aspects, all the relations of the natural world, the
postulates of subjectivity — of heart and soul — are entirely ig-
nored. The Chinese in their patriarchal despotism need no
such connection or mediation with the Highest Being; for
education, the laws of morality and courtesy, and the com-
mands and government of the Emperor embody all such con-
nection and mediation as far as they feel the need of it. The
Emperor, as he is the Supreme Head of the State, is also the
Chief of its religion. Consequently, religion is in China essen-
tially State-Religion. The distinction between it and Lamaism
must be observed, since the latter is not developed to a State,
but contains religion as a free, spiritual, disinterested con-
sciousness. That Chinese religion, therefore, cannot be what
we call religion. For to us religion means the retirement of
the Spirit within itself, in contemplating its essential nature, its
inmost Being. In these spheres, then, man is withdrawn from
his relation to the State, and betaking himself to this retirement,
is able to release himself from the power of secular govern-
ment. But is, Cfcina religion has not risen to this grade, for true
Vol. 23 G— Classics
i 3 2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
faith is possible only where individuals can seclude themselves
— can exist for themselves independently of any external com-
pulsory power. In China the individual has no such life ; — does
not enjoy this independence: in any direction he is therefore
dependent; in religion as well as in other things; that is, de-
pendent on objects of nature, of which the most exalted is the
material heaven. On this depend harvest, the seasons of the
year, the abundance and sterility of crops. The Emperor, as
crown of all — the embodiment of power — alone approaches
heaven; individuals, as such, enjoy no such privilege. He it
is, who presents the offerings at the four feasts ; gives thanks
at the head of his court, for the harvest, and invokes blessings
on the sowing of the seed. This " heaven " might be taken in
the sense of our term " God," as the Lord of Nature (we say,
for example, " Heaven protect us ! " ) ; but such a relation is
beyond the scope of Chinese thought, for here the one isolated
self -consciousness is substantial being, the Emperor himself,
the Supreme Power. Heaven has therefore no higher meaning
than Nature. The Jesuits indeed, yielded to Chinese notions
so far as to call the Christian God, " Heaven " — " Tien " ; but
they were on that account accused to the Pope by other Chris-
tian Orders. The Pope consequently sent a Cardinal to China,
who died there. A bishop who was subsequently despatched,
enacted that instead of " Heaven," the term " Lord of Heaven '
should be adopted. The relation to Tien is supposed to be such,
that the good conduct of individuals and of the Emperor brings
blessing; their transgressions on the other hand cause want
and evil of all kinds. The Chinese religion involves that primi-
tive element of magical influence over nature, inasmuch as
human conduct absolutely determines the course of events. If
the Emperor behaves well, prosperity cannot but ensue ; Heaven
must ordain prosperity. A second side of this religion is, that
as the general aspect of the relation to Heaven is bound up with
the person of the Emperor, he has also its more special bearings
in his hands ; viz. the particular well-being of individuals and
provinces. These have each an appropriate Genius (Chen),
which is subject to the Emperor, who pays adoration only to
the general Power of Heaven, while the several Spirits of the
natural world follow his laws. He is thus made the proper
legislator for Heaven as well as for earth. To these Genii,
each of which enjoys a worship peculiar to itself, certain sculp-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
133
tured forms are assigned. These are disgusting idols, which
iave not yet attained the dignity of art, because nothing spir-
iual is represented in them. They are therefore only terrific,
frightful and negative ; they keep watch — as among the Greeks
do the River-Gods, the Nymphs, and Dryads — over single ele-
ments and natural objects. Each of the five Elements has its
genius, distinguished by a particular color. The sovereignty
of the dynasty that occupies the throne of China also depends
on a Genius, and this one has a yellow color. Not less does
every province and town, every mountain and river possess an
appropriate Genius. All these Spirits are subordinate to the
Emperor, and in the Annual Directory of the Empire are regis-
tered the functionaries and genii to whom such or such a brook,
river, etc., has been intrusted. If a mischance occurs in any
part, the Genius is deposed as a Mandarin would be. The
Genii have innumerable temples (in Pekin nearly 10,000) to
which a multitude of priests and convents are attached. These
" Bonzes " live unmarried, and in all cases of distress are ap-
plied to by the Chinese for counsel. In other respects, however,
neither they nor the temples are much venerated. Lord Macart-
ney's Embassy was even quartered in a temple — such buildings
beings used as inns. The Emperor has sometimes thought fit
to secularize many thousands of these convents ; to compel the
Bonzes to return to civil life; and to impose taxes on the
estates appertaining to the foundations. The Bonzes are sooth-
sayers and exorcists: for the Chinese are given up to bound-
less superstitions. This arises from the want of subjective
independence, and presupposes the very opposite of freedom of
Spirit. In every undertaking — e.g. if the site of a house, or of
a grave, etc., is to be determined — the advice of the Sooth-
sayers as asked. In the Y-King certain lines are given, which
supply fundamental forms and categories — on account of which
this book is called the " Book of Fates." A certain meaning
is ascribed to the combination of such lines, and prophetic an-
nouncements are deduced from this groundwork. Or a number
of little sticks are thrown into the air, and the fate in question
is prognosticated from the way in which they fall. What we
regard as chance, as natural connection, the Chinese seek to
deduce or attain by magical arts; and in this particular also,
their want of spiritual religion is manifested.
With this deficiency of genuine subjectivity is connected
134
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
moreover, the form which Chinese Science assumes. In men-
tioning Chinese sciences we encounter a considerable clamor
about their perfection and antiquity. Approaching the subject
more closely, we see that the sciences enjoy very great respect,
and that they are even publicly extolled and promoted by the
Government. The Emperor himself stands at the apex of lit-
erature. A college exists whose special business it is to edit the
decrees of the Emperor, with a view to their being composed
in the best style; and this redaction assumes the character of
an important affair of State. The Mandarins in their notifica-
tions have to study the same perfection of style, for the form
is expected to correspond with the excellence of the matter.
One of the highest Governmental Boards is the Academy of
Sciences. The Emperor himself examines its members; they
live in the palace, and perform the functions of Secretaries,
Historians of the Empire, Natural Philosophers, and Geogra-
phers. Should a new law be proposed, the Academy must re-
port upon it. By way of introduction to such report it must
give the history of existing enactments ; or if the law in ques-
tion affects foreign countries, a description of them is required.
The Emperor himself writes the prefaces to the works thus
composed. Among recent Emperors Kien-long especially dis-
tinguished himself by his scientific acquirements. He himself
wrote much, but became far more remarkable by publishing the
principal works that China has produced. At the head of the
commission appointed to correct the press, was a Prince of the
Empire ; and after the work had passed through the hands of
all, it came once more back to the Emperor, who severely pun-
ished every error that had been committed.
Though in one aspect the sciences appear thus pre-eminently
honored and fostered, there are wanting to them on the other
side that free ground of subjectivity, and that properly scientific
interest, which make them a truly theoretical occupation of the
mind. A free, ideal, spiritual kingdom has here no place.
What may be called scientific is of a merely empirical nature,
and is made absolutely subservient to the Useful on behalf of
the State — its requirements and those of individuals. The nat-
ure of their Written Language is at the outset a great hin-
drance to the development of the sciences. Rather, conversely,
because a true scientific interest does not exist, the Chinese
have acquired no better instrument for representing and im-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 135
parting thought. They have, as is well known, beside a Spoken
Language, a Written Language; which does not express, as
our does, individual sounds — does not present the spoken words
to the eye, but represents the ideas themselves by signs. This
appears at first sight a great advantage, and has gained the
suffrages of many great men — among others, of Leibnitz. In
reality, it is anything but such. For if we consider in the first
place, the effect of such a mode of writing on the Spoken Lan-
guage, we shall find this among the Chinese very imperfect, on
account of that separation. For our Spoken Language is
matured to distinctness chiefly through the necessity of finding
signs for each single sound, which latter, by reading, we learn
to express distinctly. The Chinese, to whom such a means of
orthoepic development is wanting, do not mature the modifica-
tions of sounds in their language to distinct articulations capa-
ble of being represented by letters and syllables. Their Spoken
Language consists of an inconsiderable number of monosylla-
bic words, which are used with more than one signification.
The sole methods of denoting distinctions of meaning are the
connection, the accent, and the pronunciation — quicker or
slower, softer or louder. The ears of the Chinese have become
very sensible to such distinctions. Thus I find that the word
Po has eleven different meanings according to the tone: de-
noting " glass " — " to boil " — " to winnow wheat " — " to cleave
asunder " — " to water " — " to prepare " — ''" an old woman " —
" a slave " — " a liberal man " — " a wise person " — " a little." —
As to their Written Language, I will -pecify only the obstacles
which it presents to the advance of he sciences. Our Written
Language 1 is very simple for a leainer, as we analyze our
Spoken Language into about twenty-five articulations, by
which analysis, speech is rendered definite, the multitude of
possible sounds is limited, and obscure intermediate sounds are
banished: we have to learn only these signs and their combi-
nations. Instead of twenty-five signs of this sort, the Chinese
have many thousands to learn. The number necessary for use
is reckoned at 9,353, or even 10,516, if we add those recently
introduced ; and tne number of characters generally, for ideas
and their combinations as they are presented in books, amounts
to from 80,000 to 90,000. As to the sciences themselves, His-
tory among the Chinese comprehends the bare and definite facts,
without any opinion or reasoning upon them. In the same way
x 3 6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
their Jurisprudence gives only fixed laws, and their Ethics only
determinate duties, without raising the question of a subjective
foundation for them. The Chinese have, however, in addition
to other sciences, a Philosophy, whose elementary principles
are of great antiquity, since the Y-King — the Book of Fates —
treats of Origination and Destruction. In this book are found
the purely abstract ideas of Unity and Duality ; the Philosophy
of the Chinese appears therefore to proceed from the same
fundamental ideas as that of Pythagoras.* The fundamental
principle recognized is Reason — Tao; that essence lying at the
basis of the whole, which effects everything. To become ac-
quainted with its forms is regarded among the Chinese also
as the highest science; yet this has no connection with the
educational pursuits which more nearly concern the State. The
works of Lao-tse, and especially his work " Tao-te-King," are
celebrated. Confucius visited this philosopher in the sixth cen-
tury before Christ, to testify his reverence for him. Although
every Chinaman is at liberty to study these philosophical works,
a particular sect, calling itself Tao-tse, " Honorers of Reason,"
makes this study its special business. Those who compose it
are isolated from civil life; and there is much that is enthusi-
astic and mystic intermingled with their views. They believe,
for instance, that he who is acquainted with Reason, possesses
an instrument of universal power, which may be regarded as
all-powerful, and which communicates a supernatural might;
so that the possessor is enabled by it to exalt himself to Heaven,
and is not subject to death (much the same as the universal
Elixir of Life once talked of among us). With the works of
Confucius we have become more intimately acquainted. To
him, China owes the publication of the Kings, and many orig-
inal works on Morality besides, which form the basis of the
customs and conduct of the Chinese. In the principal work of
Confucius, which has been translated into English, are found
correct moral apophthegms; but there is a circumlocution, a
reflex character, and circuitousness in the thought, which pre-
vents it from rising above mediocrity. As to the other sciences,
they are not regarded as such, but rather as branches of knowl-
edge for the behoof of practical ends. The Chinese are far
behind in Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy, notwithstand-
* Vide Hegel's " Vorlesungen uber die Geschichte der Philosophic," vol. i. p.
J38, etc.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 137
ing their quondam reputation in regard to them. They knew
many things at a time when Europeans had not discovered
them, but they have not understood how to apply their knowl-
edge : as e.g. the Magnet, and the Art of Printing. But they
have made no advance in the application of these discoveries.
In the latter, for instance, they continue to engrave the letters
in wooden blocks and then print them off : they know nothing
of movable types. Gunpowder, too, they pretended to have in-
vented before the Europeans; but the Jesuits were obliged to
found their first cannon. As to Mathematics, they understand
well enough how to reckon, but the higher aspect of the science
is unknown. The Chinese also have long passed as great as-
tronomers. Laplace has investigated their acquisitions in this
department, and discovered that they possess some ancient ac-
counts and notices of Lunar and Solar Eclipses ; but these cer-
tainly do not constitute a science. The notices in question are,
moreover, so indefinite, that they cannot properly be put in the
category of knowledge. In the Shu-King, e.g. we have two
eclipses of the sun mentioned in the space of 1,500 years.
The best evidence of the state of Astronomy among the Chi-
nese, is the fact that for many hundred years the Chinese cal-
endars have been made by Europeans. In earlier times, when
Chinese astronomers continued to compose the calendar, false
announcements of lunar and solar eclipses often occurred, en-
tailing the execution of the authors. The telescopes which the
Chinese have received as presents from the Europeans, are set
up for ornament ; but they have not an idea how to make fur-
ther use of them. Medicine, too, is studied by the Chinese, but
only empirically; and the grossest superstition is connected
with its practice. The Chinese have as a general characteristic,
a remarkable skill in imitation, which is exercised not merely
in daily life, but also in art. They have not yet succeeded in
representing the beautiful, as beautiful ; for in their painting,
perspective and shadow are wanting. And although a Chinese
painter copies European pictures (as the Chinese do everything
else) correctly; although he observes accurately how many
scales a carp has ; how many indentations there are in the leaves
of a tree; what is the form of various trees, and how the
branches bend; — the Exalted, the Ideal and Beautiful is not
the domain of his art and skill. The Chinese are, on the other
hand, too proud to learn anything from Europeans, although
138 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
they must often recognize their superiority. "A merchant in
Canton had a European ship built, but at the command of the
Governor it was immediately destroyed. The Europeans are
treated as beggars, because they are compelled to leave their
home, and seek for support elsewhere than in their own coun-
try. Besides, the Europeans, just because of their intelligence,
have not yet been able to imitate the superficial and perfectly
natural cleverness of the Chinese. Their preparation of var-
nishes — their working of metals, and especially their art of cast-
ing them extremely thin — their porcelain manufacture and
many other things, have not yet been completely mastered by
Europeans.
This is the character of the Chinese people in its various as-
pects. Its distinguishing feature is, that everything which
belongs to Spirit — unconstrained morality, in practice and the-
ory, Heart, inward Religion, Science and Art properly so-
called — is alien to it. The Emperor always speaks with maj-
esty and paternal kindness and tenderness to the people ; who,
however, cherish the meanest opinion of themselves, and be-
lieve that they are born only to drag the car of Imperial Power.
The burden which presses them to the ground, seems to them
to be their inevitable destiny ; and it appears nothing terrible
to them to sell themselves as slaves, and to eat the bitter bread
of slavery. Suicide, the result of revenge, and the exposure
of children, as a common, even daily occurrence, show the little
respect in which they hold themselves individually, and human-
ity in general. And though there is no distinction conferred
by birth, and everyone can attain the highest dignity, this very
equality testifies to no triumphant assertion of the worth of the
inner man, but a servile consciousness — one which has not yet
matured itself so far as to recognize distinctions.
SECTION II
INDIA
INDIA, like China, is a phenomenon antique as well as mod-
ern ; one which has remained stationary and fixed, and has
received a most perfect home-sprung development. It has
always been the land of imaginative aspiration,, and appears
to us still as a Fairy region, an enchanted World. In contrast
with the Chinese State, which presents only the most prosaic
Understanding, India is the region of phantasy and sensibility.
The point of advance in principle which it exhibits to us may
be generally stated as follows : — In China the patriarchal prin-
ciple rules a people in a condition of nonage, the part of whose
moral resolution is occupied by the regulating law, and the
moral oversight of the Emperor. Now it is the interest of
Spirit that external conditions should become internal ones;
that the natural and the spiritual World should be recognized
in the subjective aspect belonging to intelligence; by which
process the unity of subjectivity and [positive] Being generally
— or the Idealism of Existence — is established. This Idealism,
then, is found in India, but only as an Idealism of imagination,
without distinct conceptions; — one which does indeed free ex-
istence from Beginning and Matter [liberates it from temporal
limitations and gross materiality] , but changes everything into
the merely Imaginative ; for although the latter appears inter-
woven with definite conceptions and Thought presents itself
as an occasional concomitant, this happens only through acci-
dental combination. Since, however, it is the abstract and
absolute Thought itself that enters into these dreams as their
material, we may say that Absolute Being is presented here
as in the ecstatic state of a dreaming condition. For we have
not the dreaming of an actual Individual, possessing distinct
personality, and simply unfettering the latter from limitation,
but we have the dreaming of the unlimited absolute Spirit.
139
i 4 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
There is a beauty of a peculiar kind in women, in which their
countenance presents a transparency of skin, a light and lovely
roseate hue, which is unlike the complexion of mere health
and vital vigor — a more refined bloom, breathed, as it were,
by the soul within — and in which the features, the light of the
eye, the position of the mouth, appear soft, yielding, and re-
laxed. This almost unearthly beauty is perceived in women in
those days which immediately succeed child-birth; when free-
dom from the burden of pregnancy and the pains of travail is
added to the joy of soul that welcomes the gift of a beloved
infant. A similar tone of beauty is seen also in women during
the magical somnambulic sleep, connecting them with a world
of superterrestrial beauty. A great artist (Schoreel) has more-
over given this tone to the dying Mary, whose spirit is already
rising to the regions of the blessed, but once more, as it were,
lights up her dying countenance for a farewell kiss. Such a
beauty we find also in its loveliest form in the Indian World;
a beauty of enervation in which all that is rough, rigid, and
contradictory is dissolved, and we have only the soul in a state
of emotion — a soul, however, in which the death of free self-
reliant Spirit is perceptible. For should we approach the charm
of this Flower-life — a charm rich in imagination and genius —
in which its whole environment and all its relations are perme-
ated by the rose-breath of the Soul, and the World is trans-
formed into a Garden of Love — should we look at it more
closely, and examine it in the light of Human Dignity and
Freedom — the more attractive the first sight of it had been,
so much the more unworthy shall we ultimately find it in
every respect.
The character of Spirit in a state of Dream, as the generic
principle of the Hindoo Nature, must be further defined. In
a dream, the individual ceases to be conscious of self as such,
in contradistinction from objective existences. When awake,
I exist for myself, and the rest of creation is an external, fixed
objectivity, as I myself am for it. As external, the rest of
existence expands itself to a rationally connected whole ; a
system of relations, in which my individual being is itself a
member — an individual being united with that totality. This
is the sphere of Understanding. In the state of dreaming, on
the contrary, this separation is suspended. Spirit has ceased
to exist for itself in contrast with alien existence, and thus the
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 141
separation of the external and individual dissolves before its
universality — its essence. The dreaming Indian is therefore all
that we call finite and individual; and, at the same time — as
infinitely universal and unlimited — a something intrinsically
divine. The Indian view of things is a Universal Pantheism,
a Pantheism, however, of Imagination, not of Thought. One
substance pervades the Whole of things, and all individualiza-
tions are directly vitalized and animated into particular Powers.
The sensuous matter and content are in each case simply and in
the rough taken up, and carried over into the sphere of the
Universal and Immeasurable. It is not liberated by the free
power of Spirit into a beautiful form, and idealized in the
Spirit, so that the sensuous might be a merely subservient and
compliant expression of the spiritual ; but [the sensuous object
itself] is expanded into the immeasurable and undefined, and
the Divine is thereby made bizarre, confused, and ridiculous.
These dreams are not mere fables — a play of the imagination,
in which the soul only revelled in fantastic gambols: it is lost
in them ; hurried to and fro by these reveries, as by something
that exists really and seriously for it. It is delivered over to
these limited objects as to its Lords and Gods. Everything,
therefore — Sun, Moon, Stars, the Ganges, the Indus, Beasts,
Flowers — everything is a God to it.. And while, in this deifica-
tion, the finite loses its consistency and substantiality, intelli-
gent conception of it is impossible. Conversely the Divine,
regarded as essentially changeable and unfixed, is also by the
base form which it assumes, defiled and made absurd. In this
universal deification of all finite existence, and consequent
degradation of the Divine, the idea of Theanthropy, the incar-
nation of God, is not a particularly important conception. The
parrot, the cow, the ape, etc., are likewise incarnations of God,
yet are not therefore elevated above their nature. The Divine
is not individualized to a subject, to concrete Spirit, but de-
graded to vulgarity and senselessness. This gives us a general
idea of the Indian view of the Universe. Things are as much
stripped of rationality, of finite consistent stability of cause and
effect, as man is of the steadfastness of free individuality, of
personality, and freedom.
Externally, India sustains manifold relations to the History
of the World. In recent times the discovery has been made,
that the Sanscrit lies at the foundation of all those further
i 4 2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
developments which form the languages of Europe; e.g. the
Greek, Latin, German. India, moreover, was the centre of
emigration for all the western world ; but this external histor-
ical relation is to be regarded rather as a merely physical
diffusion of peoples from this point. Although in India the
elements of further developments might be discovered, and al-
though we could find traces of their being transmitted to the
West, this transmission has been nevertheless so abstract [so
superficial], that that which among later peoples attracts our
interest, is not anything derived from India, but rather some-
thing concrete, which they themselves have formed, and in re-
gard to which they have done their best to forget Indian ele-
ments of culture. The spread of Indian culture is prehistorical,
for History is limited to that which makes an essential epoch
in the development of Spirit. On the whole, the diffusion of
Indian culture is only a dumb, deedless expansion; that is, it
presents no political action. The people of India have achieved
no foreign conquests, but have been on every occasion van-
quished themselves. And as in this silent way, Northern India
has been a centre of emigration, productive of merely physical
diffusion, India as a Land of Desire forms an essential element
in General History. From the most ancient times downwards,
all nations have directed their wishes and longings to gaining
access to the treasures of this land of marvels, the most costly
which the Earth presents; treasures of Nature — pearls, dia-
monds, perfumes, rose-essences, elephants, lions, etc. — as also
treasures of wisdom. The way by which these treasures have
passed to the West, has at all times been a matter of World-
historical importance, bound up with the fate of nations. Those
wishes have been realized ; this Land of Desire has been at-
tained ; there is scarcely any great nation of the East, nor of
the Modern European West, that has not gained for itself a
smaller or larger portion of it. In the old world, Alexander
the Great was the first to penetrate by land to India, but even
he only just touched it. The Europeans of the modern world
have been able to enter into direct connection with this land
of marvels only circuitously from the other side ; and by way
of the sea, which, as has been said, is the general uniter of coun-
tries. The English, or rather the East India Company, are the
lords of the land; for it is the necessary fate of Asiatic Em-
pires to be subjected to Europeans ; and China will, some day
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 143
or other, be obliged to submit to this fate. The number of in-
habitants is near 200,000,000, of whom from 100,000,000 to
112,000,000 are directly subject to the English. The Princes
who are not immediately subject to them have English Agents
at their Courts, and English troops in. their pay. Since the
country of the Mahrattas was conquered by the English, no
part of India has asserted its independence of their sway. They
have already gained a footing in the Burman Empire, and
passed the Brahmaputra, which bounds India on the east.
India Proper is the country which the English divide into
two large sections : the Deccan — the great peninsula which has
the Bay of Bengal on the east, and the Indian Sea on the west —
and Hindostan, formed by the valley of the Ganges, and ex-
tending in the direction of Persia. To the northeast, Hin-
dostan is bordered by the Himalaya, which has been ascer-
tained by Europeans to be the highest mountain range in the
world, for its summits are about 26,000 feet above the level
of the sea. On the other side of the mountains the level again
declines; the dominion of the Chinese extends to that point,
and when the English wished to go to Lassa to the Dalai-Lama,
they were prevented by the Chinese. Towards the west of
India flows the Indus, in which the five rivers are united, which
are called the Pent jab (Punjab), into which Alexander the
Great penetrated. The dominion of the English does not ex-
tend to the Indus ; the sect of the Sikhs inhabits that district,
whose constitution is thoroughly democratic, and who have
broken off from the Indian as well as from the Mohammedan
religion, and occupy an intermediate ground — acknowledging
only one Supreme Being. They are a powerful nation, and
have reduced to subjection Cabul and Cashmere. Besides these
there dwell along the Indus genuine Indian tribes of the War-
rior-Caste. Between the Indus and its twin-brother, the Gan-
ges, are great plains. The Ganges, on the other hand, forms
large Kingdoms around it, in which the sciences have been so
highly developed, that the countries around the Ganges enjoy a
still greater reputation than those around the Indus. The King-
dom of Bengal is especially flourishing. The Nerbuddah forms
the boundary between the Deccan and Hindostan. The penin-
sula of the Deccan presents a far greater variety than Hindo-
stan, and its rivers possess almost as great a sanctity as the
Indus and the Ganges — which latter has become a general name
144 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
for all the rivers in India, as the River tear l^oyfyv. We call
the inhabitants of the great country which we have now to
consider Indians, from the river Indus (the English call them
Hindoos). They themselves have never given a name to the
whole, for it has never become one Empire, and yet we consider
it as such.
With regard to the political life of the Indians, we must first
consider the advance it presents in contrast with China. In
China there prevailed an equality among all the individuals
composing the empire; consequently all government was ab-
sorbed in its centre, the Emperor, so that individual members
could not attain to independence and subjective freedom. The
next degree in advance of this Unity is Difference, maintaining
its independence against the all-subduing power of Unity. An
organic life requires in the first place One Soul, and in the
second place, a divergence into differences, which become or-
ganic members, and in their several offices develop themselves
to a complete system ; in such a way, however, that their activ-
ity reconstitutes that one soul. This freedom of separation is
wanting in China. The deficiency is that diversities cannot
attain to independent existence. In this respect, the essential
advance is made in India, viz. : that independent members
ramify from the unity of despotic power. Yet the distinctions
which these imply are referred to Nature. Instead of stimu-
lating the activity of a soul as their centre of union, and spon-
taneously realizing that soul — as is the case in organic life
— they petrify and become rigid, and by their stereotyped char-
acter condemn the Indian people to the most degrading spir-
itual serfdom. The distinctions in question are the Castes. In
every rational State there are distinctions which must manifest
themselves. Individuals must arrive at subjective freedom, and
in doing so, give an objective form to these diversities. But
Indian culture has not attained to a recognition of freedom
and inward morality; the distinctions which prevail are only
those of occupations, and civil conditions. In a free state also,
such diversities give rise to particular classes, so combined,
however, that their members can maintain their individuality.
In India we have only a division in masses — a division, how-
ever, that influences the whole political life and the religious
consciousness. The distinctions of class, like that [rigid] Unity
in China, remain consequently on the same original grade of
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 145
substantiality, i.e. they are not the result of the free subjec-
tivity of individuals. Examining the idea of a State and its
various functions, we recognize the first essential function as
that whose scope is the absolutely Universal; of which man
becomes conscious first in Religion, then in Science. God, the
Divine [to Qelov] is the absolutely Universal. The highest
class therefore will be the one by which the Divine is presented
and brought to bear on the community — the class of Brahmins.
The second element or class, will represent subjective power
and valor. Such power must assert itself, in order that the
whole may stand its ground, and retain its integrity against
other such totalities or states. This class is that of the Warriors
and Governors — the Cshatriyas; although Brahmins often be-
come governors. The third order of occupation recognized is
that which is concerned with the specialities of life — the satis-
fying of its necessities — and comprehends agriculture, crafts
and trade ; the class of the Vaisyas. Lastly, the fourth element
is the class of service, the mere instrument for the comfort of
others, whose business it is to work for others for wages af-
fording a scanty subsistence — the caste of Sudras. This servile
class — properly speaking — constitutes no special organic class
in the state, because its members only serve individuals: their
occupations are therefore dispersed among them and are con-
sequently attached to that of the previously mentioned castes. —
Against the existence of " classes " generally, an objection has
been brought — especially in modern times — drawn from the
consideration of the State in its "aspect" of abstract equity.
But equality in civil life is something absolutely impossible;
for individual distinctions of sex and age will always assert
themselves ; and even if an equal share in the government is
accorded to all citizens, women and children are immediately
passed by, and remain excluded. The distinction between pov-
erty and riches, the influence of skill and talent, can be as little
ignored — utterly refuting those abstract assertions. But while
this principle leads us to put up with variety of occupations, and
distinction of the classes to which they are intrusted, we are
met here in India by the peculiar circumstance that the indi-
vidual belongs to such a class essentially by birth, and is bound
to it for life. All the concrete vitality that makes its appear-
ance sinks back into death. A chain binds down the life that
was just upon the point of breaking forth. The promise of
x 4 6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
freedom which these distinctions hold out is therewith com-
pletely nullified. What birth has separated mere arbitrary
choice has no right to join together again : therefore, the castes
preserving distinctness from their very origin, are presumed
not to be mixed or united by marriage. Yet even Arrian (Ind.
II ) reckoned seven castes, and in later times more than thirty
have been made out ; which, notwithstanding all obstacles, have
arisen from the union of the various classes. Polygamy neces-
sarily tends to this. A Brahmin, e.g. is allowed three wives
from the three other castes, provided he has first taken one
from his own. The offspring of such mixtures originally be-
longed to no caste, but one of the kings invented a method of
classifying these casteless persons, which involved also the com-
mencement of arts and manufactures. The children in question
were assigned to particular employments; one section became
weavers, another wrought in iron, and thus different classes
arose from these different occupations. The highest of these
mixed castes consists of those who are born from the marriage
of a Brahmin with a wife of the Warrior caste; the lowest
is that of the Chandalas, who have to remove corpses, to exe-
cute criminals, and to perform impure offices generally. The
members of this caste are excommunicated and detested; and
are obliged to live separate and far from association with others.
The Chandalas are obliged to move out of the way for their
superiors, and a Brahmin may knock down any that neglect
to do so. If a Chandala drinks out of a pond it is defiled, and
requires to be consecrated afresh.
We must next consider the relative position of these castes.
Their origin is referred to a myth, which tells us that the
Brahmin caste proceeded from Brahma's mouth ; the Warrior
caste from his arms ; the industrial classes from his loins ; the
servile caste from his foot. Many historians have set up the
hypothesis that the Brahmins originally formed a separate
sacerdotal nation, and this fable is especially countenanced by
the Brahmins themselves. A people consisting of priests alone
is, assuredly, the greatest absurdity, for we know a priori, that
a distinction of classes can exist only within a people ; in every
nation the various occupations of life must present themselves,
for they belong to the objectivity of Spirit. One class necessarily
supposes another, and the rise of castes generally, is only a re-
sult of the united life of a nation. A nation of priests cannot
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 147
exist without agriculturists and soldiers. Classes cannot be
brought together from without ; they are developed only from
within. They come forth from the interior of national life,
and not conversely. But that these distinctions are here attrib-
uted to Nature, is a necessary result of the Idea which the East
embodies. For while the individual ought properly to be em-
powered to choose his occupation, in the East, on the contrary,
internal subjectivity is not yet recognized as independent; and
if distinction obtrude themselves, their recognition is accom-
panied by the belief that the individual does not choose his par-
ticular position for himself, but receives it from Nature. In
China the people are dependent — without distinction of classes
— on the laws and moral decision of the Emperor ; consequently
on a human will. Plato, in his Republic, assigns the arrange-
ment in different classes with a view to various occupations,
to the choice of the governing body. Here, therefore, a moral,
a spiritual power is the arbiter. In India, Nature is this gov-
erning power. But this natural destiny need not have led to
that degree of degradation which we observe here, if the dis-
tinctions had been limited to occupation with what is earthly —
to forms of objective Spirit. In the feudalism of mediaeval
times, individuals were also confined to a certain station in life ;
but for all there was a Higher Being, superior to the most
exalted earthly dignity, and admission to holy orders was open
to all. This is the grand distinction, that here Religion holds
the same position towards all; that, although the son of a
mechanic becomes a mechanic, the son of a peasant a peasant,
and free choice is often limited by many restrictive circum-
stances, the religions element stands in the same relation to all,
and all are invested with an absolute value by religion. In
India the direct contrary is the case. Another distinction be-
tween the classes of society as they exist in the Christian world
and those in Hindostan is the moral dignity which exists among
us in every class, constituting that which man must possess
in and through himself. In this respect the higher classes are
equal to the lower; and while religion is the higher sphere in
which all sun themselves, equality before the law — rights of
person and of property — are gained for every class. But by
the fact that in India, as already observed, differences extend
not only to the objectivity of Spirit, but also to its absolute
subjectivity, and thus exhaust all its relations — neither moral-
ity, nor justice, nor religiosity is to be found.
148 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Every caste has its especial duties and rights. Duties and
rights, therefore, are not recognized as pertaining to mankind
generally, but as those of a particular caste. While we say,
" Bravery is a virtue," the Hindoos say, on the contrary, " Bra-
very is the virtue of the Cshatryas." Humanity generally, hu-
man duty and human feeling do not manifest themselves; we
find only duties assigned to the several castes. Everything is
petrified into these distinctions, and over this petrifaction a
capricious destiny holds sway. Morality and human dignity
are unknown ; evil passions have their full swing ; the Spirit
wanders into the Dream- World, and the highest state is An-
nihilation.
To gain a more accurate idea of what the Brahmins are, and
in what the BrahminiCal dignity consists, we must investigate
the Hindoo religion and the conceptions it involves, to which
we shall have to return further on; for the respective rights
of castes have their basis in a religious relation. Brahma
(neuter) is the Supreme in Religion, but there are besides
chief divinities Brahma (masc.) Vishnu or Krishna — incarnate
in infinitely diverse forms — and Siva. These form a connected
Trinity. Brahma is the highest ; but Vishnu or Krishna, Siva,
the Sun moreover, the Air, etc., are also Brahm, i.e. Substantial
Unity. To Brahm itself no sacrifices are offered ; it is not
honored ; but prayers are presented to all other idols. Brahm
itself is the Substantial Unity of All. The highest religious
position of man, therefore is, being exalted to Brahm. If a
Brahmin is asked what Brahm is, he answers: When I fall
back within myself, and close all external senses, and say dm
to myself, that is Brahm. Abstract unity with God is realized
in this abstraction from humanity. An abstraction of this kind
may in some cases leave everything else unchanged, as does
devotional feeling, momentarily excited. But among the Hin-
doos it holds a negative position towards all that is concrete;
and the highest state is supposed to be this exaltation, by which
the Hindoo raises himself to deity. The Brahmins, in virtue
of their birth, are already in possession of the Divine. The
distinction of castes involves, therefore, a distinction between
present deities and mere limited mortals. The other castes may
likewise become partakers in a Regeneration; but they must
subject themselves to immense self-denial, torture and penance.
Contempt of life, and of living humanity, is the chief feature
THE ORIENTAL WORLD i 49
in this ascesis. A large number of the non-Brahminical popu-
lation strive to attain Regeneration. They are called Yogis.
An Englishman who, on a journey to Thibet to visit the Dalai-
Lama, met such a Yogi, gives the following account : The Yogi
was already on the second grade in his ascent to Brahminical
dignity. He had passed the first grade by remaining for twelve
years on his legs, without ever sitting or lying down. At first
he had bound himself fast to a tree with a rope, until he had
accustomed himself to sleep standing. The second grade re-
quired him to keep his hands clasped together over his head
for twelve years in succession. Already his nails had almost
grown into his hands. The third grade is not always passed
through in the same way; generally the Yogi has to spend a
day between five fires, that is, between four fires occupying the
four quarters of heaven, and the Sun. He must then swing
backwards and forwards over the fire, a ceremony occupying
three hours and three-quarters. Englishmen present at an act
of this kind, say that in half an hour the blood streamed forth
from every part of the devotee's body ; he was taken down and
presently died. If this trial is also surmounted, the aspirant
is finally buried alive, that is put into the ground in an upright
position and quite covered over with soil; after three hours
and three-quarters he is drawn out, and if he lives, he is sup-
posed to have at last attained the spiritual power of a Brahmin.
Thus only by such negation of his existence does anyone
attain Brahminical power. In its highest degree this negation
consists in a sort of hazy consciousness of having attained per-
fect mental immobility — the annihilation of all emotion and all
volition ; — a condition which is regarded as the highest among
the Buddhists also. However pusillanimous and effeminate
the Hindoos may be in other respects, it is evident how littlo-
they hesitate to sacrifice themselves to the Highest — to Annihi-
lation. Another instance of the same is the fact of wives burn-
ing themselves after the death of their husbands. Should a
woman contravene this traditional usage, she would be severed
from society, and perish in solitude. An Englishman states
that he also saw a woman burn herself because she had lost her
child. He did all that he could to divert her away from her
purpose; at last he applied to her husband who was standing
by, but he showed himself perfectly indifferent, as he had more
wives at home. Sometimes twenty women are seen throwing
ISO PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
themselves at once into the Ganges, and on the Himalaya
range an English traveller found three women seeking the
source of the Ganges, in order to put an end to their life in this
holy river. At a religious festival in the celebrated temple
of Juggernaut in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal, where millions
of Hindoos assemble, the image of the god Vishnu is drawn
in procession on a car : about five hundred men set it in motion,
and many fling themselves down before its wheels to be crushed
to pieces. The whole seashore is already strewed with the
bodies of persons who have thus immolated themselves. In-
fanticide is also very common in India. Mothers throw their
children into the Ganges, or let them pine away under the rays
of the sun. The morality which is involved in respect for
human life is not found among the Hindoos. There are be-
sides those already mentioned, infinite modifications of the same
principle of conduct, all pointing to annihilation. This, e.g.,
is the leading principle of the Gymnosophists, as the Greeks
called them. Naked Fakirs wander about without any occupa-
tion, like the mendicant friars of the Catholic church; live on
the alms of others, and make it their aim to reach the highest
degree of abstraction — the perfect deadening of consciousness ;
a point from which the transition to physical death is no great
step.
This elevation which others can only attain by toilsome labor
is, as already stated, the birthright of the Brahmins. The Hin-
doo of another caste, must, therefore, reverence the Brahmin
as a divinity ; fall down before him, and say to him : " Thou
art God." And this elevation cannot have anything to do with
moral conduct, but — inasmuch as all internal morality is ab-
sent — is rather dependent on a farrago of observances relating
to the merest externalities and trivialities of existence. Human
life, it is said, ought to be a perpetual Worship of God. It is
evident how hollow such general aphorisms are, when we con-
sider the concrete forms which they may assume. They require
another, a further qualification, if they are to have a meaning.
The Brahmins are a present deity, but their spirituality has
not yet been reflected inwards in contrast with Nature ; and
thus that which is purely indifferent is treated as of absolute
importance. The employment of the Brahmins consists prin-
cipally in the reading of the Vedas : they only have a right to
read them. Were a Sudra to read the Vedas, or to hear them
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
I5i
read, he would be severely punished, and burning oil must be
poured into his ears. The external observances binding on the
Brahmins are prodigiously numerous, and the Laws of Manu
treat of them as the most essential part of duty. The Brahmin
must rest on one particular foot in rising, then wash in a river ;
his hair and nails must be cut in neat curves, his whole body
purified, his garments white; in his hand must be a staff of
a specified kind ; in his ears a golden earring. If the Brahmin
meets a man of an inferior caste, he must turn back and purify
himself. He has also to read in the Vedas, in various ways:
each word separately, or doubling them alternately, or back-
wards. He may not look to the sun when rising or setting,
or when overcast by clouds or reflected in the water. He is
forbidden to step over a rope to which a calf is fastened, or to
go out when it rains. He may not look at his wife when she
eats, sneezes, gapes, or is quietly seated. At the midday meal
he may only have one garment on, in bathing never be quite
naked. How minute these directions are may be especially
judged of from the observances binding on the Brahmins
in regard to satisfying the calls of nature. This is forbidden
to them in a great thoroughfare, on ashes, on ploughed land,
on a hill, a nest of white ants, on wood destined for fuel, in a
ditch, walking or standing, on the bank of a river, etc. At such
a time they may not look at the sun, at water, or at animals.
By day they should keep their face generally directed to the
north, but by night to the south; only in the shade are they
allowed to turn to which quarter they like. It is forbidden
to everyone who desires a long life to step on potsherds, cot-
ton seeds, ashes, or sheaves of corn, or his urine. In the episode
Nala, in the poem of Mahabharata, we have a story of a virgin
who in her 21st year — the age in which the maidens themselves
have a right to choose a husband — makes a selection from
among her wooers. There are five of them; but the maiden
remarks that four of them do not stand firmly on their feet, and
thence infers correctly that they are Gods. She therefore
chooses the fifth, who is a veritable man. But besides the four
despised divinities there are two malevolent ones, whom her
choice had not favored, and who on that account wish for re-
venge. They therefore keep a strict watch on the husband
of their beloved in every step and act of life, with the design
of inflicting injury upon him if he commits a misdemeanor.
152
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The persecuted husband does nothing that can be brought
against him, until at last he is so incautious as to step on his
urine. The Genius has now an advantage over him ; he afflicts
him with a passion for gambling, and so plunges him into the
abyss.
While, on the one hand, the Brahmins are subject to these
strict limitations and rules, on the other hand their life is sacred ;
it cannot answer for crimes of any kind ; and their property is
equally secure from being attacked. The severest penalty
which the ruler can inflict upon them amounts to nothing more
than banishment. The English wished to introduce trial by
jury into India — the jury to consist half of Europeans, half of
Hindoos — and submitted to the natives, whose wishes on the
subject were consulted, the powers with which the panel would
be intrusted. The Hindoos were for making a number of ex-
ceptions and limitations. They said, among other things, that
they could not consent that a Brahmin should be condemned
to death ; not to mention other objections, e.g. that looking at
and examining a corpse was out of the question. Although in
the case of a Warrior the rate of interest may be as high as
three per cent., in that of a Vaisya four per cent., a Brahmin
is never required to pay more than two per cent. The Brahmin
possesses such a power, that Heaven's lightning would strike
the King who ventured to lay hands on him or his property.
For the meanest Brahmin is so far exalted above the. King,
that he would be polluted by conversing with him, and would
be dishonored by his daughters choosing a prince in marriage.
In Manu's Code it is said : " If anyone presumes to teach a
Brahmin his duty, the King must order that hot oil be poured
into the ears and mouth of such an instructor. If one who is
only once-born, loads one who is twice-born with reproaches,
a red hot iron bar ten inches long shall be thrust into his
mouth." On the other hand a Sudra is condemned to have a
red hot ir^n thrust into him from behind if he rest himself in
the chair ot a Brahmin, and to have his foot or his hand hewed
off if he pushes against a Brahmin with hands or feet. It is even
permitted to give false testimony, and to lie before a Court of
Justice, if a Brahmin can be thereby freed from condemnation.
As the Brahmins enjoy advantages over the other Castes, the
latter in their turn have privileges according to precedence,
over their inferiors. If a Sudra is defiled by contact with a
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 153
Pariah, he has the right to knock him down on the spot. Hu-
manity on the part of a higher Caste towards an inferior one
is entirely forbidden, and a Brahmin would never think of
assisting a member of another Caste, even when in danger.
The other Castes deem it a great honor when a Brahmin cakes
their daughters as his wives — a thing however, which is per-
mitted him, as already stated, only when he has already taken
one from his own Caste. Thence arises the freedom the Brah-
mins enjoy in getting wives. At the great religious festivals
they go among the people and choose those that please them
best ; but they also repudiate them at pleasure.
If a Brahmin or a member of any other Caste transgresses
the above cited laws and precepts, he is himself excluded from
his caste, and in order to be received back again, he must have
a hook bored through the hips, and be swung repeatedly back-
wards and forwards in the air. There are also other forms of
restoration. A Rajah who thought himself injured by an Eng-
lish Governor sent two Brahmins to England to detail his
grievances. But the Hindoos are forbidden to cross the sea,
and these envoys on their return were declared excommuni-
cated from their caste, and in order to be restored to it, they
had to be born again from a golden cow. The imposition was
so far lightened, that only those parts of the cow out of which
they had to creep were obliged to be golden ; the rest might
consist of wood. These various usages and religious observan-
ces to which every Caste is subject have occasioned great per-
plexity to the English, especially in enlisting soldiers. At first
these were taken from the Sudra-Caste, which is not bound to
observe so many ceremonies ; but nothing could be done with
them, they therefore betook themselves to the Cshatriya class.
These however have an immense number of regulations to ob-
serve — they may not eat meat, touch a dead body, drink out
of a pool in which cattle or Europeans have drunk, not eat what
others have cooked, etc. Each Hindoo assumes one definite
occupation, and that only, so that one must have an infinity of
servants ; — a Lieutenant has thirty, a Major sixty. Thus every
Caste has its own duties ; the lower the Caste, the less it has to
observe ; and as each individual has his position assigned by
birth, beyond this fixed arrangement everything is governed
bv caprice and force. In the Code of Manu punishments in-
crease in proportion to the inferiority of Castes, and there is a
*54
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
distinction in other respects. If a man of a higher Caste brings
an accusation against an inferior without proof, the former is
not punished ; if the converse occurs, the punishment is very
severe. Cases of theft are exceptional ; in this case the higher
the Caste the heavier is the penalty.
In respect to property the Brahmins have a great advantage,
for they pay no taxes. The prince receives half the income from
the lands of others ; the remainder has to suffice for the cost
of cultivation and the support of the laborers. It is an ex-
tremely important question, whether the cultivated land in In-
dia is recognized as belonging to the cultivator, or belongs to a
so-called manorial proprietor. The English themselves have
had great difficulty in establishing a clear understanding about
it. For when they conquered Bengal, it was of great importance
to them, to determine the mode in which taxes were to be raised
on property, and they had to ascertain whether these should be
imposed on the tenant cultivators or the lord of the soil. They
imposed the tribute on the latter ; but the result was that the
proprietors acted in the most arbitrary manner: drove away
the tenant cultivators, and declaring that such or such an
amount of land was not under cultivation, gained an abatement
of tribute. They then took back the expelled cultivators as day-
laborers, at a low rate of wages, and had the land cultivated
on their own behalf. The whole income belonging to every
village is, as already stated, divided into two parts, of which one
belongs to the Rajah, the other to the cultivators ; but propor-
tionate shares are also received by the Provost of the place, the
Judge, the Water-Surveyor, the Brahmin who superintends
religious worship, the Astrologer (who is also a Brahmin, and
announces the days of good and ill omen), the Smith, the Car-
penter, the Potter, the Washerman, the Barber, the Physician,
the Dancing Girls, the Musician, the Poet. This arrangement
is fixed and immutable, and subject to no one's will. All political
re\olutions, therefore, are matters of indifference to the com-
mon Hindoo, for his lot is unchanged.
The view given of the relation of castes leads directly to the
subject of Religion. For the claims of caste are, as already
remarked, not merely secular, bu' essentially religious, and the
Brahmins in their exalted dignity are the very gods bodily
present. In the laws of Manu it is said : " Let the King, even
in extreme necessity, beware of exciting the Brahmins against
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
i5S
him ; for they can destroy him with their power — they who
create Fire, Sun, Moon, etc." They are servants neither of
God nor of his People, but are God himself to the other Castes
— a position of things which constitutes the perverted character
of the Hindoo mind. The dreaming Unity of Spirit and nature,
which involves a monstrous bewilderment in regard to all phe-
nomena and relations, we have already recognized as the prin-
ciple of the Hindoo Spirit. The Hindoo Mythology is there-
fore only a wild extravagance of Fancy, in which nothing has
a settled form ; which takes us abruptly from the Meanest to
the Highest, from the most sublime to the most disgusting and
trivial. Thus it is also difficult to discover what the Hindoos
understand by Brahm. We are apt to take our conception of
Supreme Divinity — the One — the Creator of Heaven and
Earth — and apply it to the Indian Brahm. Brahma is dis-
tinct from Brahm — the former constituting one personality in
contrasted relation to Vishnu and Siva. Many therefore call the
Supreme Existence who is over the first mentioned deity, Para-
brahma. The English have taken a good deal of trouble to find
out what Brahm properly is. Wilford has asserted that Hin-
doo conceptions recognize two Heavens : the first, the earthly
paradise, the second, Heaven in a spiritual sense. To attain
them, two different modes of worship are supposed to be re-
quired. The one involves external ceremonies, Idol-Worship ;
the other requires that the Supreme Being should be honored
in spirit. Sacrifices, purifications, pilgrimages are not needed
in the latter. This authority states moreover that there are
few Hindoos ready to pursue the second way> because they can-
not understand in what the pleasure of the second heaven con-
sists, and that if one asks a Hindoo whether he worships Idols,
every one says " Yes ! " but to the question, " Do you worship
the Supreme Being? " every one answers " No." If the further
question is put, " What is the meaning of that practice of yours,
that silent meditation which some of your learned men speak
of? " they respond, " When I pray to the honor of one of the
Gods, I sit down — the foot of either leg on the thigh of the
other — look towards Heaven, and calmly elevate my thoughts
with my hands folded in silence ; then I say, I am Brahm the
Supreme Being. We are not conscious to ourselves of being
Brahm, by reason of Maya (the delusion occasioned by the out-
ward world). It is forbidden to pray to him, and to offer sac-
Vol. 23 H — Classics
156 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
rifices to him in his own nature; for this would be to adore
ourselves. In every case therefore, it is only emanations of
Brahm that we address." Translating these ideas then into
our own process of thought, we should call Brahm the pure
unity of thought in itself — God in the incomplexity of his ex-
istence. No temples are consecrated to him, and he receives
no worship. Similarly, in the Catholic religion, the churches
are not dedicated to God, but to the saints. Other Englishmen,
who have devoted themselves to investigating the conception
of Brahm, have thought Brahm to be an unmeaning epithet, ap-
plied to all gods : so that Vishnu says, " I am Brahm " ; and
the Sun, the Air, the Seas are called Brahm. Brahm would on
this supposition be substance in its simplicity, which by its
very nature expands itself into the limitless variety of phenome-
nal diversities. For this abstraction, this pure unity, is that
which lies at the foundation of All — the root of all definite ex-
istence. In the intellection of this unity, all objectivity falls
away ; for the purely Abstract is intellection itself in its greatest
vacuity. To attain this Death of Life during life itself — to con-
stitute this abstraction — requires the disappearance of all moral
activity and volition, and of all intellection too, as in the Re-
ligion of Fo; and this is the object of the penances already
spoken of.
The complement to the abstraction Brahm must then be
looked for in the concrete complex of things; for the prin-
ciple of the Hindoo religion is the Manifestation of Diversity
(in " Avatars "). These then, fall outside that abstract Unity
of Thought, and as that which deviates from it, constitute the
variety found in the world of sense, the variety of intellectual
conceptions in an unreflected sensuous form. In this way the
concrete complex of material things is isolated from Spirit, and
presented in wild distraction, except as re-absorbed in the pure
ideality of Brahm. The other deities are therefore things of
sense: Mountains, Streams, Beasts, the Sun, the Moon, the
Ganges. The next stage is the concentration of this wild varie-
ty into substantial distinctions, and the comprehension of them
as a series of divine persons. Vishnu, Siva, Mahadeva are thus
distinguished from Brahma. In the embodiment Vishnu are
presented those incarnations in which God has appeared as
man, and which are always historical personages, who effected
important changes and new epochs. The power of procreation
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 157
is likewise a substantial embodiment; and in the excavations,
grottos and pagodas of the Hindoos, the Lingam is always
found as symbolizing the male, and the Lotus the female vis
procreandi.
With this Duality — abstract unity on the one side and the ab-
stract isolation of the world of sense on the other side — exactly
corresponds the double form of Worship, in the relation of the
human subjectivity to God. The one side of this duality of wor-
ship consists in the abstraction of pure self-elevation — the ab-
rogation of real self-consiousness ; a negativity which is conse-
quently manifested, on the one hand, in the attainment of torpid
unconsciousness — on the other hand in suicide and the extinc-
tion of all that is worth calling life, by self-inflicted tortures.
The other side of worship consists in a wild tumult of excess ;
when all sense of individuality has vanished from consciousness
by immersion in the merely natural ; with which individuality
thus makes itself identical — destroying its consciousness of dis-
tinction from Nature. In all the pagodas, therefore, prostitutes
and dancing girls are kept, whom the Brahmins instruct most
carefully in dancing, in beautiful postures and attractive gest-
ures, and who have to comply with the wishes of all comers at
a fixed price. Theological doctrine — relation of religion to
morality — is here altogether out of the question. On the one
hand Love — Heaven — in short everything spiritual — is con-
ceived by the fancy of the Hindoo ; but on the other hand his
conceptions have an actual sensuous embodiment, and he im-
merses himself by a voluptuous intoxication in the merely
natural. Objects of religious worship are thus either disgusting
forms produced by art, or those presented by Nature. Every
bird, every monkey, is a present god, an absolutely universal
existence. The Hindoo is incapable of holding fast an object
in his mind by means of rational predicates assigned to it, for
this requires reflection. While a universal essence is wrongly
transmuted into sensuous objectivity, the latter is also driven
from its definite character into universality — a process whereby
it loses its footing and is expanded to indefiniteness.
If we proceed to ask how far their religion exhibits the Moral-
ity of the Hindoos, the answer must be that the former is as dis-
tinct from the latter, as Brahm from the concrete existence
of which he is the essence. To us, religion is the knowledge of
that Being who is emphatically our Being, and therefore the
158 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
substance of our knowledge and volition ; the proper office of
which latter is to be the mirror of this fundamental substance.
But that requires this (Highest) Being to be in se a personality,
pursuing divine aims, such as can become the purport of human
action. Such an idea of a relation of the Being of God as con-
stituting the universal basis or substance of human action —
such a morality cannot be found among the Hindoos ; for they
have not the Spiritual as the import of their consciousness. On
the one hand their virtue consists in the abstraction from all
activity — the condition they call " Brahm." On the other hand
every action with them is a prescribed external usage ; not
free activity, the result of inward personality. Thus the moral
condition of the Hindoos (as already observed) shows itself
most abandoned. In this all Englishmen agfee. Our judgment
of the morality of the Hindoos is apt to be warped by represen-
tations of their mildness, tenderness, beautiful and sentimental
fancy. But we must reflect that in nations utterly corrupt, there
are sides of character which may be called tender and noble.
We have Chinese poems in which the tenderest relations of
love are depicted ; in which delineations of deep emotion, hu-
mility, modesty, propriety are to be found ; and which may be
compared with the best that European literature contains. The
same characteristics meet us in many Hindoo poems ; but recti-
tude, morality, freedom of soul, consciousness of individual
right are quite another thing. The annihilating of spiritual and
physical existence has nothing concrete in it ; and absorption
in the abstractly Universal has no connection with the real.
Deceit and cunning are the fundamental characteristics of the
Hindoo. Cheating, stealing, robbing, murdering are with him
habitual. Humbly crouching and abject before a victor and
lord, he is recklessly barbarous to the vanquished and subject.
Characteristic of the Hindoo's humanity is the fact that he kills
no brute animal, founds and supports rich hospitals for brutes,
especially for old cows and monkeys — but that through the
whole land, no single institution can be found for human be-
ings who are diseased or infirm from age. The Hindoos will
not tread upon ants, but they are perfectly indifferent when poor
wanderers pine away with hunger. The Brahmins are espe-
cially immoral. According to English reports, they do nothing
but eat and sleep. In what is not forbidden them by the rules
of their order they follow natural impulses entirely. When they
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
159
take any part in public life they show themselves avaricious, de-
ceitful, voluptuous. With those whom they have reason to fear,
they are humble enough ; for which they avenge themselves on
their dependents. " I do not know an honest man among
them," says an English authority. Children have no respect
for their parents : sons maltreat their mothers.
It would lead us too far to give a detailed notice of Hindoo
Art and Science. But we may make the general remark, that a
more accurate acquaintance with its real value has not a little
diminished the widely bruited fame of Indian Wisdom. Ac-
cording to the Hindoo principle of pure self-renouncing Ideal-
ity, and that (phenomenal) variety, which goes to the opposite
extreme of sensuousness, it is evident that nothing but abstract
thought and imagination can be developed. Thus, e.g., their
grammar has advanced to a high degree of consistent regular-
ity ; but when substantial matter in sciences and works of art
is in question, it is useless to look for it here. When the Eng-
lish had become masters of the country, the work of restoring
to light the records of Indian culture was commenced, and
William Jones first disinterred the poems of the Golden Age.
The English exhibited plays at Calcutta : this led to a represen-
tation of dramas on the part of the Brahmins, e.g. the Sacontala
of Calidasa, etc. In the enthusiasm pf discovery the Hindoo
culture was very highly rated ; and as, when new beauties are
discovered, the old ones are commonly looked down upon with
contempt, Hindoo poetry and philosophy were extolled as far
superior to the Greek. For our purpose the most important
documents are the ancient and canonical books of the Hin-
doos, especially the Vedas. They comprise many divisions, of
which the fourth is of more recent origin. They consist partly
of religious prayers, partly of precepts to be observed. Some
manuscripts of these Vedas have come to Europe, though in
a complete form they are exceedingly rare. The writing is on
palm leaves, scratched in with a needle. The Vedas are very
difficult to understand, since they date from the most remote
antiquity, and the language is a much older Sanscrit. Cole-
brooke has indeed translated a part, but this itself is perhaps
taken from a commentary, of which there are very many.* Two
* Only recently has Professor Rosen, Specimen, ed. Fr. Rosen. Lond. 1830."
residing in London, gone thoroughly (More recently, since Rosen's death, the
into the matter and given a specimen of whole Rig- Veda, London, 1839, has been
the text with a translation, Rig-Vedae published from MSS. left by him.)
l6o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
great epic poems, Ramayana and Mahabharata, have also
reached Europe. Three quarto volumes of the former have
been printed, the second volume is extremely rare.f Besides
these works, the Puranas must be particularly noticed. The
Puranas contain the history of a god or of a temple. They are
entirely fanciful. Another Hindoo classical book is the Code
of Manu. This Hindoo lawgiver has been compared with the
Cretan Minos — a name which also occurs among the Egyp-
tians ; and certainly this extensive occurrence of the same name
is noteworthy and cannot be ascribed to chance. Manu's code
of morals, (published at Calcutta with an English translation
by Sir W. Jones) forms the basis of Hindoo legislation. It be-
gins with a Theogony, which is not only entirely different from
the mythological conceptions of other peoples (as might be ex-
pected), but also deviates essentially from the Hindoo traditions
themselves. For in these also there are only some leading feat-
ures that pervade the whole. In other respects everything is
abandoned to chance, caprice and fancy ; the result of which is
that the most multiform traditions, shapes and names, appear
in never ending procession. The time when Manu's code was
composed, is also entirely unknown and undetermined. The
traditions reach beyond twenty-three centuries before the birth
of Christ : a dynasty of the Children of the Sun is mentioned, on
which followed one of the Children of the Moon. Thus much,
however, is certain, that the code in question is of high an-
tiquity ; and an acquaintance with it is of the greatest impor-
tance to the English, as their knowledge of Hindoo Law is de-
rived from it.
After pointing out the Hindoo principle in the distinctions
of caste, in religion and literature, we must also mention the
mode and form of their political existence — the polity of the
Hindoo State. — A State is a realization of Spirit, such that in
it the self-conscious being of Spirit — the freedom of the Will —
is realized as Law. Such an institution then, necessarily pre-
supposes the consciousness of free will. In the Chinese State
the moral will of the Emperor is the law : but so that subjective,
inward freedom is thereby repressed, and the Law of Freedom
governs individuals only as from without. In India the pri-
t " A. W. v. Schlegel has published have been introduced to public notice by
the first and second Volume; the most F. Bopp, and a complete Edition has ap-
important Episodes of the Mahabharata peared at Calcutta. —German Editor.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 161
mary aspect of subjectivity — viz., that of the imagination — pre-
sents a union of the Natural and Spiritual, in which Nature
on the one hand, does not present itself as a world embodying
Reason, nor the Spiritual on the other hand, as consciousness
in contrast with Nature. Here the antithesis in the (above-
stated) principle is wanting. Freedom both as abstract will and
as subjective freedom is absent. The proper basis of the State,
the principle of freedom is altogether absent: there cannot
therefore be any State in the true sense of the term. This is the
first point to be observed : if China may be regarded as nothing
else but a State, Hindoo political existence presents us with a
people, but no State. Secondly, while we found a moral despot-
ism in China, whatever may be called a relic of political life
in India, is a despotism without a principle, without any rule of
morality and religion: for morality and religion (as far as the
latter has a reference to human action) have as their indis-
pensable condition and basis the freedom of the Will. In India,
therefore, the most arbitrary, wicked, degrading despotism has
its full swing. China, Persia, Turkey — in fact Asia generally,
is the scene of despotism, and, in a bad sense, of tyranny ; but
it is regarded as contrary to the due order of things, and is
disapproved by religion and the moral consciousness of indi-
viduals. In those countries, tyranny rouses men to resentment ;
they detest it and groan under it as a burden. To them it is
an accident and an irregularity, not a necessity : it ought not to
exist. But in India it is normal : for here there is no sense of
personal independence with which a state of despotism could
be compared, and which would raise revolt in the soul ; nothing
approaching even a resentful protest against it, is left, except
the corporeal smart, and the pain of being deprived of absolute
necessaries and of pleasure.
In the case of such a people, therefore, that which we call
in its double sense, History, is not to be looked for ; and here
the distinction between China and India is most clearly and
strongly manifest. The Chinese possess a most minute history
of their country, and it has been already remarked what ar-
rangements are made in China for having everything accu-
rately noted down in their annals. The contrary is the case in
India. Though the recent discoveries of the treasures of
Indian Literature have shown us what a reputation the Hin-
doos have acquired in Geometry, Astronomy, and Algebra —
162 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
that they have made great advances in Philosophy, and that
among them, Grammar has been so far cultivated that no lan-
guage can be regarded as more fully developed than the
Sanscrit — we find the department of History altogether neg-
lected, or rather non-existent. For History requires Under-
standing — the power of looking at an object in an independent
objective light, and comprehending it in its rational connec-
tion with other objects. Those peoples therefore are alone
capable of History, and of prose generally, who have arrived
at that period of development (and can make that their start-
ing point) at which individuals comprehend their own exist-
ence as independent, i.e. possess self-consciousness.
The Chinese are to be rated at what they have made of them-
selves, looking at them in the entirety of their State. While
they have thus attained an existence independent of Nature,
they can also regard objects as distinct from themselves — as
they are actually presented — in a definite form and in their real
connection. The Hindoos on the contrary are by birth given
over to an unyielding destiny, while at the same time their
Spirit is exalted to Ideality; so that their minds exhibit the
contradictory processes of a dissolution of fixed rational and
definite conceptions in their Ideality, and on the other side, a
degradation of this ideality to a multiformity of sensuous ob-
jects. This makes them incapable of writing History. All
that happens is dissipated in their minds into confused dreams.
What we call historical truth and veracity — intelligent, thought-
ful comprehension of events, and fidelity in representing them
— nothing of this sort can be looked for among the Hindoos.
We may explain this deficiency partly from that excitement and
debility of the nerves, which prevent them from retaining an
object in their minds, and firmly comprehending it, for in their
mode of apprehension, a sensitive and imaginative temperament
changes it into a feverish dream ; — partly from the fact, that
veracity is the direct contrary to their nature. They even lie
knowingly and designedly where misapprehension is out of the
question. As the Hindoo Spirit is a state of dreaming and
mental transiency — a self-oblivious dissolution — objects also
dissolve for it into unreal images and indefinitude. This feature
is absolutely characteristic ; and this alone would furnish us
with a clear idea of the Spirit of the Hindoos, from which all
that has been said might be deduced.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 163
But History is always of great importance for a people;
since by means of that it becomes conscious of the path of
development taken by its own Spirit, which expresses itself in
Laws, Manners, Customs, and Deeds. Laws, comprising mor-
als and judicial institutions, are by nature the permanent ele-
ment in a people's existence. But History presents a people
with their own image in a condition which thereby becomes ob-
jective to them. Without History their existence in time is
blindly self-involved — the recurring play of arbitrary volition in
manifold forms. History fixes and imparts consistency to this
fortuitous current — gives it the form of Universality, and by so
doing posits a directive and restrictive rule for it. It is an
essential instrument in developing and determining the Con-
stitution — that is, a rational political condition ; for it is the
empirical method of producing the Universal, inasmuch as it
sets up a permanent object for the conceptive powers. — It is be-
cause the Hindoos have no History in the form of annals (his-
toria) that they have no History in the form of transactions (res
gestae) ; that is, no growth expanding into a veritable political
condition.
Periods of time are mentioned in the Hindoo Writings, and
large numbers which have often an astronomical meaning, but
which have still oftener a quite arbitrary origin. Thus it is
related of certain Kings that they had reigned 70,000 years,
or more. Brahma, the first figure in the Cosmogony, and self-
produced, is said to have lived 20,000 years, etc. Innumerable
names of Kings are cited — among them the incarnations of
Vishnu. It would be ridiculous to regard passages of this kind
as anything historical. In their poems Kings are often talked of:
these may have been historical personages, but they completely
vanish in fable ; e.g. they retire from the world, and then ap-
pear again, after they have passed ten thousand years in soli-
tude. The numbers in question, therefore, have not the value
and rational meaning which we attach to them.
Consequently the oldest and most reliable sources of Indian
History are the notices of Greek Authors, after Alexander
the Great had opened the way to India. From them we learn
that their institutions were the same at that early period as they
are now: Santaracottus (Chandragupta) is marked out as a
distinguished ruler in the northern part of India, to which the
Bactrian kingdom extended. The Mahometan historians sup-
164 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ply another source of information ; for the Mahometans began
their invasions as early as the tenth century. A Turkish slave
was the ancestor of the Ghiznian race. His son Mahmoud
made an inroad into Hindostan and conquered almost the whole
country. He fixed his royal residence west of Cabul, and at
his court lived the poet Ferdusi. The Ghiznian dynasty was
soon entirely exterminated by the sweeping attacks of the
Afghans and Moguls. In later times nearly the whole of India
has been subjected to the Europeans. What therefore is known
of Indian history, has for the most part been communicated
through foreign channels: the native literature gives only in-
distinct data. Europeans assure us of the impossibility of wad-
ing through the morasses of Indian statements. More definite
information may be obtained from inscriptions and documents,
especially from the deeds of gifts of land to pagodas and divin-
ities; but this kind of evidence supplies names only. Another
source of information is the astronomical literature, which is
of high antiquity Colebrooke thoroughly studied these writ-
ings; though it is very difficult to procure manuscripts, since
the Brahmins keep them very close ; they are moreover disfig-
ured by the grossest interpolations. It is found that the state-
ments with regard to constellations are often contradictory, and
that the Brahmins interpolate these ancient works with events
belonging to their own time. The Hindoos do indeed possess
lists and enumerations of their Kings, but these also are of the
most capricious character; for we often find twenty Kings
more in one list than in another; and should these lists even
be correct, they could not constitute a history. The Brahmins
have no conscience in respect to truth. Captain Wilford had
procured manuscripts from all quarters with great trouble and
expense ; he assembled a considerable number of Brahmins,
and commissioned them to make extracts from these works, and
to institute inquiries respecting certain remarkable events —
about Adam and Eve, the Deluge, etc. The Brahmins, to please
their employer, produced statements of the kind required ; but
there was nothing of the sort in the manuscripts. Wilford
wrote many treatises on the subject, till at last he detected the
deception, and saw that he had labored in vain. The Hindoos
have, it is true, a fixed Era : they reckon from Vicramaditya, at
whose splendid court lived Calidasa, the author of the Sacon-
tala. The most illustrious poets flourished about the same
THE ORIENTAL WORLD ^5
time. " There were nine pearls at the court of Vicramaditya,"
say the Brahmins : but we cannot discover the date of this
brilliant epoch. From various statements, the year 149 1 B.C.
has been contended for; others adopt the year 50 B.C., and this
is the commonly received opinion. Bentley's researches at
length placed Vicramaditya in the twelfth century B.C. But
still more recently it has been discovered that there were five,
or even eight or nine kings of that name in India ; so that on
this point also we are thrown back into utter uncertainty.
When the Europeans became acquainted with India, they
found a multitude of petty Kingdoms, at whose head were
Mahometan and Indian princes. There was an order of things
very nearly approaching feudal organization; and the King-
doms in question were divided into districts, having as gov-
ernors Mahometans, or people of the Warrior Caste of Hin-
doos. The business of these governors consisted in collecting
taxes and carrying on wars ; and they thus formed a kind of
aristocracy, the Prince's Council of State. But only as far as
their princes are feared and excite fear, have they any power ;
and no obedience is rendered to them but by force. As long
as the prince does not want money, he has troops ; and neigh-
boring princes, if they are inferior to him in force, are often
obliged to pay taxes, but which are yielded only on compulsion.
The whole state of things, therefore, is not that of repose, but
of continual struggle; while moreover nothing is developed
or furthered. It is the struggle of an energetic will on the part
of this or that prince against a feebler one; the history of
reigning dynasties, but not of peoples ; a series of perpetually
varying intrigues and revolts — not indeed of subjects against
their rulers, but of a prince's son, for instance, against his
father; of brothers, uncles and nephews in contest with each
other ; and of functionaries against their master. It might be
believed that, though the Europeans found such a state of
things, this was the result of the dissolution of earlier superior
organizations. It might, for instance, be supposed that the
period of the Mogul supremacy was of one of prosperity and
splendor, and of a political condition in which India was not
distracted religiously and politically by foreign conquerors.
But the historical traces and lineaments that accidentally pre-
sent themselves in poetical descriptions and legends, bearing
upon the period in question, always point to the same divided
1 66 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
condition — the result of war and of the instability of political
relations; while contrary representations may be easily recog-
nized as a dream, a mere fancy. This state of things is the
natural result of that conception of Hindoo life which has been
exhibited, and the conditions which it necessitates. The wars
of the sects of the Brahmins and Buddhists, of the devotees of
Vishnu and of Siva, also contributed their quota to this con-
fusion. — There is indeed, a common character pervading the
whole of India ; but its several states present at the same time
the greatest variety ; so that in one Indian State we meet with
the greatest effeminacy — in another, on the contrary, we find
prodigious vigor and savage barbarity.
If then, in conclusion, we once more take a general view of
the comparative condition of India and China, we shall see
that China was characterized by a thoroughly unimaginative
Understanding; a prosaic life amid firm and definite reality:
while in the Indian world there is, so to speak, no object that
can be regarded as real, and firmly defined — none that was not
at its first apprehension perverted by the imagination to the very
opposite of what it presents to an intelligent consciousness. In
China it is the Moral which constitutes the substance of the
laws, and which is embodied in external strictly determinate
relations; while over all hovers the patriarchal providence of
the Emperor, who like a Father, cares impartially for the in-
terest of his subjects. Among the Hindoos, on the contrary —
instead of this Unity — Diversity is the fundamental character-
istic. Religion, War, Handicraft, Trade, yes, even the most
trivial occupations are parcelled out with rigid separation —
constituting as they do the import of the one will which they
involve, and whose various requirements they exhaust. With
this is bound up a monstrous, irrational imagination, which at-
taches the moral value and character of men to an infinity of
outward actions as empty in point of intellect as of feeling ; sets
aside all respect for the welfare of man, and even makes a duty
of the cruellest and severest contravention of it. Those distinc-
tions being rigidly maintained, nothing remains for the one
universal will of the State but pure caprice, against whose
omnipotence only the fixed caste-distinctions avail for protec-
tion. The Chinese in their prosaic rationality, reverence as the
Highest, only the abslract supreme lord; and they exhibit a
contemptibly superstitious respect for the fixed and definite-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 167
Among the Hindoos there is no such superstition so far as it
presents an antithesis to Understanding ; rather their whole life
and ideas are one unbroken superstition, because among them
all is revery and consequent enslavement. Annihilation — the
abandonment of all reason, morality and subjectivity — can only
come to a positive feeling and consciousness of itself, by extrav-
agating in a boundlessly wild imagination; in which, like a
desolate spirit, it finds no rest, no settled composure, though it
can content itself in no other way ; as a man who is quite re-
duced in body and spirit finds his existence altogether stupid
and intolerable, and is driven to the creation of a dream-world
and a delirious bliss in Opium.
Section II. — (Continued).— India— Buddhism *
It is time to quit the Dream- State characterizing the Hindoo
Spirit revelling in the most extravagant maze through all nat-
ural and spiritual forms ; comprising at the same time the coars-
est sensuality and anticipations of the profoundest thought,
and on that very account — as far as free and rational reality is
concerned — sunk in the most self-abandoned, helpless slavery;
— a slavery, in which the abstract forms into which concrete
human life is divided, have become stereotyped, and human
rights and culture have been made absolutely dependent upon
these distinctions. In contrast with this inebriate Dream-life,
which in the sphere of reality is bound fast in chains, we have
the unconstrained Dream-life ; which on the one hand is ruder
than the former — as not having advanced so far as to make
this distinction of modes of life — but for the same reason, has
not sunk into the slavery which this entails. It keeps itself more
free, more independently firm in itself: its world of ideas is
consequently compressed into simpler conceptions.
The Spirit of the Phase just indicated, is involved in the
same fundamental principle as that assigned to Hindoo con-
ceptions: but it is more concentrated in itself; its religion is
^simpler, and the accompanying political condition more calm
and settled. This phase comprehends peoples and countries
of the most varied complexion. We regard it as embracing
* As in Hegel's original plan and in agrees better with recent investigations,
the first lecture the transition from In- its detachment from the place which it
dian Brahminism to Buddhism occupies previously occupied and mention here
the place assigned it here, and as this will appear sufficiently justified. — Ed.
position of the chapter on Buddhism
168 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Ceylon, Farther India with the Burman Empire, Siam, Anam— «
north of that Thibet, and further on the Chinese Upland with
its various populations of Mongols and Tartars. We shall not
examine the special individualities of these peoples, but merely
characterize their Religion, which constitutes the most interest-
ing side of their existence The Religion of these peoples is
Buddhism, which is the most widely extended religion on our
globe. In China Buddha is reverenced as Fo; in Ceylon as
Gautama; in Thibet and among the Mongols this religion has
assumed the phase of Lamaism. In China — where the religion
of Fo early received a great extension, and introduced a mo-
nastic life — it occupies the position of an integrant element of
the Chinese principle. As the Substantial form of Spirit which
characterizes China, develops itself only to a unity of secular
national life, which degrades individuals to a position of con-
stant dependence, religion also remains in a state of dependence.
The element of freedom is wanting to it; for its object is the
principle of Nature in general — Heaven — Universal Matter.
But the (compensating) truth of this alienated form of Spirit
(Nature occupying the place of the Absolute Spirit) is ideal
Unity; the elevation above the limitation of Nature and of
existence at large ; — the return of consciousness into the soul.
This element, which is contained in Buddhism, has made its
way in China, to that extent to which the Chinese have become
aware of the unspirituality of their condition, and the limitation
that hampers their consciousness. — In this religion — which may
be generally described as the religion of self-involvement (un-
developed Unity)* — the elevation of that unspiritual condition
to subjectivity, takes place in two ways; one of which is of
a negative, the other of an affirmative kind.
The negative form of this elevation is the concentration of
Spirit to the Infinite, and must first present itself under theo-
logical conditions. It is contained in the fundamental dogma,
that Nothingness is the principle of all things — that all pro-
ceeded from and returns to Nothingness. The various forms
found in the World are only modifications of procession
[thence]. If an analysis of these various forms were attempted,
they would lose their quality ; for in themselves all things are
one and the same inseparable essence, and this essence is Noth-
* Compare Hegel's " Vorlesungen fiber die Philosophic der Religion," 2d Edi-
tion, Pt. I. p. 384.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 169
ingness. The connection of this with the Metempsychosis can
be thus explained : All (that we see) is but a change of Form.
The inherent infinity of Spirit — infinite concrete self-depend-
ence — is entirely separate from this Universe of phenomena.
Abstract Nothingness is properly that which lies beyond Finite
Existence — what we may call the Supreme Being. This real
principle of the Universe is, it is said, in eternal repose, and in
itself unchangeable. Its essence consists in the absence of
activity and volition. For Nothingness is abstract Unity with
itself. To obtain happiness, therefore, man must seek to assim-
ilate himself to this principle by continual victories over him-
self ; and for the sake of this, do nothing, wish nothing, desire
nothing. In this condition of happiness, therefore, Vice or
Virtue is out of the question ; for the true blessedness is Union
with Nothingness. The more man frees himself from all spe-
ciality of existence, the nearer does he approach perfection;
and in the annihilation of all activity — in pure passivity — he
attains complete resemblance to Fo. The abstract Unity in
question is not a mere Futurity — a Spiritual sphere existing
beyond our own ; it has to do with the present ; it is truth for
man [as he is], and ought to be realized in him. In Ceylon
and the Burman Empire — where this Buddhistic Faith has its
roots — there prevails an idea, that man can attain by medita-
tion, to exemption from sickness, old age and death.
But while this is the negative form of the elevation of Spirit
from immersion in the Objective to a subjective realization of
itself, this Religion also advances to the consciousness of an
affirmative form. Spirit is the Absolute. Yet in comprehend-
ing Spirit it is a point of essential importance in what determi-
nate form Spirit is conceived. When we speak of Spirit as
universal, we know that for us it exists only in an inward con-
ception; but to attain this point of view — to appreciate Spirit
in the pure subjectivity of Thought and conception — is the re-
sult of a longer process of culture. At that point in history
at which we have now arrived, the form of Spirit is not ad-
vanced beyond Immediateness (the idea of it is not yet refined
by reflection and abstraction). God is conceived in an imme-
diate, unreflected form; not in the form of Thought — objec-
tively. But this immediate Form is that of humanity. The
Sun, the Stars do not come up to the idea of Spirit ; but Man
seems to realize it; and he, as Buddha, Gautama, Fo — in the
17°
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
form of a departed teacher, and in the living form of the Grand
Lama — receives divine worship. The Abstract Understanding
generally objects to this idea of a Godman ; alleging as a defect
that the form here assigned to Spirit is an immediate [unre-
flecte>., unrefined] one — that in fact it is none other than Man
in the concrete. Here the character of a whole people is bound
up with the theological view just indicated. The Mongols —
a race extending through the whole of central Asia as far as
Siberia, where they are subject to the Russians — worship the
Lama; and with this form of worship a simple political con-
dition, a patriarchal life is closely united ; for they are properly
a Nomad people, and only occasionally are commotions excited
among them, when they seem to be beside themselves, and
eruptions and inundations of vast hordes are occasioned. Of
the Lamas there are three : the best known is the Dalai-Lama,
who has his seat at Lassa in the kingdom of Thibet. A second
is the Teshoo-Lama, who under the title of Bantshen Rinbot-
shee resides at Teshoo-Lomboo ; there is also a third in South-
ern Siberia. The first two Lamas preside over two distinct
sects, of which the priests of one wear yellow caps, those of the
other, red. The wearers of the yellow caps — at whose head is
the Dalai-Lama, and among whose adherents is the Emperor
of China — have introduced celibacy among the priests, while
the red sect allow their marriage. The English have become
considerably acquainted with the Teshoo-Lama and have given
us descriptions of him.
The general form which the spirit of the Lamaistic develop-
ment of Buddhism assumes, is that of a living human being;
while in the original Buddhism it is a deceased person. The
two hold in common the relationship to a man. The idea of a
man being worshipped as God — especially a living man — has
in it something paradoxical and revolting; but the following
considerations must be examined before we pronounce judg-
ment respecting it. The conception of Spirit involves its being
regarded as inherently, intrinsically, universal. This condition
must be particularly observed, and it must be discovered how
in the systems adopted by various peoples this universality is
kept in view. It is not the individuality of the subject that
is revered, but that which is universal in him; and which
among the Thibetans, Hindoos, and Asiatics generally, is re-
garded as the essence pervading all things. This substantial
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 171
Unity of Spirit is realized in the Lama, who is nothing but the
form in which Spirit manifests itself; and who does not hold
this Spiritual Essence as his peculiar property, but is regarded
as partaking in it only in order to exhibit it to others, that
they may attain a conception of Spirituality and be led to piety
and blessedness. The Lama's personality as such — his partic-
ular individuality — is therefore subordinate to that substantial
essence which it embodies. The second point which consti-
tutes an essential feature in the conception of the Lama is the
disconnection from Nature. The Imperial dignity of China
involved [as we saw] a supremacy over the powers of Nature ;
while here spiritual power is directly separated from the vis
Nature?. The idea never crosses the minds of the Lama-wor-
shippers to desire of the Lama to show himself Lord of Nature
■ — to exercise magical and miraculous power; for from the
being they call God, they look only for spiritual activity and the
bestowal of spiritual benefits. Buddha has moreover the ex-
press names " Saviour of Souls " — " Sea of Virtue " — " the
Great Teacher." Those who have become acquainted with the
Teshoo-Lama depict him as a most excellent person, of the
calmest temper and most devoted to meditation. Thus also
do the Lama-worshippers regard him. They see in him a man
constantly occupied with religion, and who when he directs his
attention to what is human, does so only to impart consolation
and encouragement by his blessing, and by the exercise of
mercy and the bestowal of forgiveness. These Lamas lead a
thoroughly isolated life and have a feminine rather than mas-
culine training. Early torn from the arms of his parents the
Lama is generally a well-formed and beautiful child. He is
brought up amid perfect quiet and solitude, in a kind of
prison : he is well catered for, and remains without exercise or
childish play, so that it is not surprising that a feminine sus-
ceptible tendency prevails in his character. The Grand Lamas
have under them inferior Lamas as presidents of the great
fraternities. In Thibet every father who has four sons is
obliged to dedicate one to a conventual life. The Mongols,
who are especially devoted to Lamaism — this modification of
Buddhism — have great respect for all that possesses life. They
live chiefly on vegetables, and revolt from killing any animal,
even a louse. This worship of the Lamas has supplanted Sha-
manism, that is, the religion of Sorcery. The Shamans —
172 1 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
priests of this religion — intoxicate themselves with strong
drinks and dancing, and while in this state perform their in-
cantations, fall exhausted on the ground, and utter words which
pass for oracular. Since Buddhism and Lamaism have taken
the place of the Shaman Religion, the life of the Mongols has
been simple, prescriptive and patriarchal. Where they take any
part in History, we find them occasioning impulses that have
only been the groundwork of historical development. There
is therefore little to be said about the political administration
of the Lamas. A Vizier has charge of the secular dominion
and reports everything to the Lama : the government is simple
and lenient ; and the veneration which the Mongols pay to the
Lama, expresses itself chiefly in their asking counsel of him in
political affairs..
SECTION III
PERSIA
ASIA separates itself into two parts — Hither and Farther
Asia; which are essentially different from each other.
While the Chinese and Hindoos — the two great nations
of Farther Asia, already considered — belong to the strictly Asi-
atic, namely the Mongolian Race, and consequently possess a
quite peculiar character, discrepant from ours ; the nations of
Hither Asia belong to the Caucasian, i.e. the European Stock.
They are related to the West, while the Farther-Asiatic peoples
are perfectly isolated. The European who goes from Persia to
India, observes, therefore, a prodigious contrast. Whereas
in the former country he finds himself still somewhat at home,
and meets with European dispositions, human virtues and hu-
man passions — as soon as he crosses the Indus (i.e. in the latter
region), he encounters the most repellent characteristics, per-
vading every single feature of society.
With the Persian Empire we first enter on continuous His-
tory. The Persians are the first Historical People; Persia
was the first Empire that passed away. While China and
India remain stationary, and perpetuate a natural vegetative
existence even to the present time, this land has been subject
to those developments and revolutions, which alone manifest
a historical condition. The Chinese and the Indian Empire
assert a place in the historical series only on their own account
and for us (not for neighbors and successors). But here in
Persia first arises that light which shines itself, and illuminates
what is around ; for Zoroaster's " Light " belongs to the World
of Consciousness — to Spirit as a relation to something distinct
from itself. We see in the Persian World a pure exalted
Unity, as the essence which leaves the special existences that
inhere in it, free; — as the Light, which only manifests what
bodies are in themselves; — a Unity which governs individuals
only to excite them to become powerful for themselves — to de-
173
i 74 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
velop and assert their individuality. Light makes no distinc-
tions : the Sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous,
on high and low, and confers on all the same benefit and pros-
perity. Light is vitalizing only in so far as it is brought to
bear on something distinct from itself, operating upon and
developing that. It holds a position of antithesis to Darkness,
and this antithetical relation opens out to us the principle of
activity and life. The principle of development begins with
the history of Persia. This therefore constitutes strictly the
beginning of World-History; for the grand interest of Spirit
in History, is to attain an unlimited immanence of subjectivity
— by an absolute antithesis to attain complete harmony.*
Thus the transition which we have to make, is only in the
sphere of the Idea, not in the external historical connection.
The principle of this transition is that the Universal Essence,
which we recognized in Brahm, now becomes perceptible to
consciousness — becomes an object and acquires a positive im-
port for man. Brahm is not worshipped by the Hindoos: he
is nothing more than a condition of the Individual, a religious
feeling, a non-objective existence — a relation, which for con-
crete vitality is that of annihilation. But in becoming objec-
tive, this Universal Essence acquires a positive nature: man
becomes free, and thus occupies a position face to face as it
were with the Highest Being, the latter being made objective
for him. This form of Universality we see exhibited in Persia,
involving a separation of man from the Universal essence;
while at the same time the individual recognizes himself as
identical with [a partaker in], that essence. In the Chinese
and Indian principle, this distinction was not made. We found
only a unit of the Spiritual and the Natural. But Spirit still
involved in Nature has to solve the problem of freeing itself
from the latter. Rights and Duties in India are intimately
connected with special classes, and are therefore only peculiar-
ities attaching to man by the arrangement of Nature. In China
this unity presents itself under the conditions of paternal gov-
ernment. Man is not free there ; he possesses no moral ele-
ment, since he is identical with the external command [obedi-
* In earlier stages of progress, the of this alien form of validity — recognizes
mandates of Spirit (social and political these mandates as its own, and adopts
law), are given as by a power alien to them freely as a law of liberty. It then
itself— as by some compulsion of mere stands in clear opposition to its logical
Nature. Gradually it sees the untruth contrary— Nature.— Ed.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 175
ence is purely natural, as in the filial relation — not the result
of reflection and principle]. In the Persian principle, Unity
first elevates itself to the distinction from the merely natural;
we have the negation of that unreflecting relation which al-
lowed no exercise of mind to intervene between the mandate
and its adoption by the will. In the Persian principle this
unity is manifested as Light, which in this case is not simply
light as such, the most universal physical element, but at the
same time also spiritual purity — the Good. Speciality — the in'
volvement with limited Nature — is consequently abolished.
Light, in a physical and spiritual sense, imports, therefore, ele-
vation — freedom from the merely natural. Man sustains a
relation to Light — to the Abstract Good — as to something ob-
jective, which is acknowledged, reverenced, and evoked to ac-
tivity by his Will. If we look back once more — and we cannot
do so too frequently — on the phases which we have traversed
in arriving at this point, we perceive in China the totality of
a moral Whole, but excluding subjectivity; — this totality di-
vided into members, but without independence in its various
portions. We found only an external arrangement of this
political Unity. In India, on the contrary, distinctions made
themselves prominent ; but the principle of separation was un-
spiritual. We found incipient subjectivity, but hampered with
the condition, that the separation in question is insurmount-
able; and that Spirit remains involved in the limitations of
Nature, and is therefore a self-contradiction. Above this purity
of Castes is that purity of Light which we observe in Persia;
that Abstract Good, to which all are equally able to approach,
and in which all equally may be hallowed. The Unity recog-
nized therefore, now first becomes a principle, not an external
bond of soulless order. The fact that everyone has a share in
that principle, secures to him personal dignity.
First as to Geographical position, we see China and India,
exhibiting as it were the dull half-conscious brooding of Spirit,
in fruitful plains — distinct from which is the lofty girdle of
mountains with the wandering hordes that occupy them. The
inhabitants of the heights, in their conquest, did not change
the spirit of the plains, but imbibed it themselves. But in Persia
the two principles — retaining their diversity — became united,
and the mountain peoples with their principle became the pre-
dominant element. The two chief divisions which we have to
i 7 6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
mention are : — the Persian Upland itself, and the Valley Plains,
which are reduced under the dominion of the inhabitants of the
Uplands. That elevated territory is bounded on the east by
the Soliman mountains, which are continued in a northerly
direction by the Hindoo Koosh and Belur Tag. The latter
separate the anterior region — Bactriana and Sogdiana, occupy-
ing the plains of the Oxus — from the Chinese Upland, which
extends as far as Cashgar. That plain of the Oxus itself lies
to the north of the Persian Upland, which declines on the south
towards the Persian Gulf. This is the geographical position
of Iran. On its western declivity lies Persia (Farsistan) ;
higher to the north, Kourdistan — beyond this Armenia. Thence
extend in a southwesterly direction the river districts of the
Tigris and the Euphrates. — The elements of the Persian Em-
pire are the Zend race — the old Parsees ; next the Assyrian,
Median and Babylonian Empire in the region mentioned; but
the Persian Empire also includes Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria,
with its line of coast; and thus combines the Upland, the
Valley Plains and the Coast region.
Chapter I.— The Zend People
The £end People derived their name from the language in
which the Zend Books are written, i.e. the canonical books on
which the religion of the ancient Parsees is founded. Of this
religion of the Parsees or Fire-worshippers, there are still traces
extant. There is a colony of them in Bombay ; and on the
Caspian Sea there are some scattered families that have re-
tained this form of worship. Their national existence was put
an end to by the Mahometans. The great Zerdusht — called
Zoroaster by the Greeks — wrote his religious books in the Zend
language. Until nearly the last third of the eighteenth century,
this language and all the writings composed in it, were entirely
unknown to Europeans ; when at length the celebrated French-
man, Anquetil-Duperron, disclosed to us these rich treasures.
Filled with an enthusiasm for the Oriental World, which his
poverty did not allow him to gratify, he enlisted in a French
corps that was about to sail for India. He thus reached Bom-
bay, where he met with the Parsees, and entered on the study
of their religious ideas. With indescribable difficulty he suc-
ceeded in obtaining their religious books ; making his way into
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 177
their literature, and thus opening an entirely new and wide field
of research, but which, owing to his imperfect acquaintance
with the language, still awaits thorough investigation.
Where the Zend people, mentioned in the religious books
of Zoroaster, lived, is difficult to determine. In Media and
Persia the religion of Zoroaster prevailed, and Xenophon re-
lates that Cyrus adopted it: but none of these countries was
the proper habitat of the Zend people. Zoroaster himself calls
it the pure Aryan : we find a similar name in Herodotus, for
he says that the Medes were formerly called Arii — a name with
which the designation Iran is connected. South of the Oxus
runs a mountain chain in the ancient Bactriana — with which
the elevated plains commence, that were inhabited by the Medes,
the Parthians, and the Hyrcanians. In the district watered by
the Oxus at the commencement of its course, Bactra — probably
the modern Balk — is said to have been situated; from which
Cabul and Cashmere are distant only about eight days' journey.
Here in Bactriana appears to have been the seat of the Zend
people. In the time of Cyrus we find the pure and original
faith, and the ancient political and social relations such as they
are described in the Zend books, no longer perfect. Thus much
appears certain, that the Zend language, which is connected
with the Sanscrit, was the language of the Persians, Medes,
and Bactrians. The laws and institutions of the people bear
an evident stamp of great simplicity. Four classes are men-
tioned: Priests, Warriors, Agriculturists, and Craftsmen.
Trade only is not noticed; from which it would appear that
the people 'still remained in an isolated condition. Governors
of Districts, Towns, and Roads, are mentioned ; so that all
points to the social phase of society — the political not being yet
developed ; and nothing indicates a connection with other
states. It is essential to note, that we find here no Castes, but
only Classes, and that there are no restrictions on marriage
between these different Classes ; though the Zend writings an-
nounce civil laws and penalties, together with religious enact-
ments.
The chief point — that which especially concerns us here—
is the doctrine of Zoroaster. In contrast with the wretched
hebetude of Spirit which we find among the Hindoos, a pure
ether — an exhalation of Spirit — meets us in the Persian con-
ception. In it, Spirit emerges from that substantial Unity of
178 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Nature, that substantial destitution of import, in which a sepa-
ration has not yet taken place — in which Spirit has not yet an
independent existence in contraposition to its object. This
people, namely, attained to the consciousness, that absolute
Truth must have the form of Universality — of Unity. This
Universal, Eternal, Infinite Essence is not recognized at first,
as conditioned in any way; it is Unlimited Identity. This is
properly (and we have already frequently repeated it) also the
character of Brahm. But this Universal Being became objec-
tive, and their Spirit became the consciousness of this its Es-
sence; while on the contrary among the Hindoos this objectiv-
ity is only the natural one of the Brahmins, and is recognized
as pure Universality only in the destruction of consciousness.
Among the Persians this negative assertion has become a posi-
tive one; and man has a relation to Universal Being of such
a kind that he remains positive in sustaining it. This One,
Universal Being, is indeed not yet recognized as the free Unity
of Thought ; not yet " worshipped in Spirit and in Truth " ;
but is still clothed with a form — that of Light. But Light is
not a Lama, a Brahmin, a Mountain, a brute — this or that par-
ticular existence — but sensuous Universality itself; simple
manifestation. The Persian Religion is therefore no idol-wor-*
ship; it does not adore individual natural objects, but the Uni-
versal itself. Light admits, moreover, the signification of the
Spiritual ; it is the form of the Good and True — the substan-
tiality of knowledge and volition as well as of all natural things.
Light puts man in a position to be able to exercise choice;
and he can only choose when he has emerged from that which
had absorbed him. But Light directly involves an Opposite,
namely, Darkness; just as Evil is the antithesis of Good. As
man could not appreciate Good, if Evil were not ; and as he can
be really good only when he has become acquainted with the
contrary, so the Light does not exist without Darkness. Among
the Persians, Ormuzd and Ahriman present the antithesis in
question. Ormuzd is the Lord of the kingdom of Light — of
Good ; Ahriman that of Darkness — of Evil. But there is a
still higher being from whom both proceeded — a Universal Be-
ing not affected by this antithesis, called Zeruane-Akerene — the
Unlimited All. The All, i.e. is something abstract ; it does not
exist for itself, and Ormuzd and Ahriman have arisen from it.
This Dualism is commonly brought as a reproach against Ori-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 179
ental thought ; and, as far as the contradiction is regarded as
absolute, that is certainly an irreligious understanding which
remains satisfied with it. But the very nature of Spirit de-
mands antithesis; the principle of Dualism belongs therefore
to the idea of Spirit, which, in its concrete form, essentially in-
volves distinction. Among the Persians, Purity and Impurity
have both become subjects of consciousness; and Spirit, in
order to comprehend itself, must of necessity place the Special
and Negative existence in contrast with the Universal and Pos-
itive. Only by overcoming this antithesis is Spirit twice-born
— regenerated. The deficiency in the Persian principle is only
that the Unity of the antithesis is not completely recognized;
for in that indefinite conception of the Uncreated All, whence
Ormuzd and Ahriman proceeded, the Unity is only the abso-
lutely Primal existence, and does not reduce the contradictory
elements to harmony in itself. Ormuzd creates of his own free
will; but also according to the decree of Zeruane-Akerene (the
representation wavers) ; and the harmonizing of the contradic-
tion is only to be found in the contest which Ormuzd carries
on with Ahriman, and in which he will at last conquer. Ormuzd
is the Lord of Light, and he creates all that is beautiful and
noble in the World, which is a Kingdom of the Sun. He is the
excellent, the good, the positive in all natural and spiritual ex-
istence. Light is the body of Ormuzd; thence the worship
of Fire, because Ormuzd is present in all Light; but he is
not the Sun or Moon itself. In these the Persians venerate
only the Light, which is Ormuzd. Zoroaster asks Ormuzd who
he is ? He answers : " My Name is the ground and centre of
all existence — Highest Wisdom and Science — Destroyer of the
Ills of the World, and maintainer of the Universe — Fulness of
Blessedness — Pure Will," etc. That which comes from Or-
muzd is living, independent, and lasting. Language testifies
to his power; prayers are his productions. Darkness is on the
contrary the body of Ahriman; but a perpetual fire banishes
him from the temples. The chief end of every man's existence
is to keep himself pure, and to spread this purity around him.
The precepts that have this in view are very diffuse ; the moral
requirements are however characterized by mildness. It is
said : if a man loads you with revilings, and insults, but subse-
quently humbles himself, call him your friend. We read in
the Vendidad, that sacrifices consist chiefly of the flesh of clean
Vol. 23 I— Classics
180 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
animals, flowers and fruits, milk and perfumes. It is said
there, " As man was created pure and worthy of Heaven, he
becomes pure again through the law of the servants of Or-
muzd, which is purity itself ; if he purifies himself by sanctity
of thought, word, and deed. What is ' Pure Thought ' ? That
which ascends to the beginning of things. What is ' Pure
Word ' ? The Word of Ormuzd (the Word is thus personified
and imports the living Spirit of the whole revelation of Or-
muzd). What is ' Pure Deed '? The humble adoration of the
Heavenly Hosts, created at the beginning of things." It is im-
plied in this that man should be virtuous: his own will, his
subjective freedom is presupposed. Ormuzd is not limited to
particular forms of existence. Sun, Moon, and five other stars,
which seem to indicate the planets — those illuminating and illu-
minated bodies — are the primary symbols of Ormuzd; the
Amshaspand, his first sons. Among these, Mitra is also named :
but we are at a loss to fix upon the star which this name de-
notes, as we are also in reference to the others. The Mitra
is placed in the Zend Books among the other stars ; yet in the
penal code moral transgressions are called " Mitrasins " — e.g.
breach of promise, entailing 300 lashes; to which in the case
of theft, 300 years of punishment in Hell are to be added.
Mitra appears here as the presiding genius of man's inward
higher life. Later on, great importance is assigned to Mitra
as the mediator between Ormuzd and men. Even Herodotus
mentions the adoration of Mitra. In Rome, at a later date, it
became very prevalent as a secret worship; and we find traces
of it even far into the middle ages. Besides those noticed there
are other protecting genii, which rank under the Amshaspand,
their superiors ; and are the governors and preservers of the
world. The council of the seven great men whom the Persian
Monarch had about him was likewise instituted in imitation
of the court of Ormuzd. The Fervers — a kind of Spirit-World
— are distinguished from the creatures of the mundane sphere.
The Fervers are not Spirits according to our idea, for they ex-
ist in every natural object, whether fire, water, or earth. Their
existence is coeval with the origin of things; they are in all
places, in highroads, towns, etc., and are prepared to give help
to supplicants. Their abode is in Gorodman, the dwelling of
the " Blessed," above the solid vault of heaven. As Son of
Ormuzd we find the name Dshemshid: apparently the same
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 181
as he whom the Greeks call Achaemenes, whose descendants are
called Pishdadians — a race to which Cyrus was reported to be-
long. Even at a later period the Persians seem to have had
the designation Achsemenians among the Romans. (Horace,
Odes III. i. 44.) Dshemshid, it is said, pierced the earth with
a golden dagger ; which means nothing more than that he in-
troduced agriculture. He is said then to have traversed the
various countries, originated springs and rivers, and thereby
fertilized certain tracts of land, and made the valleys teem with
living beings, etc. In the Zendavesta, the name Gustasp is also
frequently mentioned, which many recent investigators have
been inclined to connect with Darius Hystaspes ; an idea how-
ever that cannot be entertained for a moment, for this Gustasp
doubtless belongs to the ancient Zend Race — to a period there-
fore antecedent to Cyrus. Mention is made in the Zend books
of the Turanians also, i.e. the Nomade tribes of the north;
though nothing historical can be thence deduced.
The ritual observances of the religion of Ormuzd import that
men should conduct themselves in harmony with the Kingdom
of Light. The great general commandment is therefore, as
already said, spiritual and corporeal purity, consisting in many
prayers to Ormuzd. It was made specially obligatory upon the
Persians, to maintain living existences — to plant trees — to dig
wells — to fertilize deserts ; in order that Life, the Positive, the
Pure might be furthered, and the dominion of Ormuzd be uni-
versally extended. External purity is contravened by touching
a dead animal, and there are many directions for being purified
from such pollution. Herodotus relates of Cyrus, that when
he went against Babylon, and the river Gyndes engulfed one
of the horses of the Chariot of the Sun, he was occupied for
a year in punishing it, by diverting its stream into small canals,
to deprive it of its power. Thus Xerxes, when the sea broke
in pieces his bridges, had chains laid upon it as the wicked and
pernicious being — Ahriman.
182 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY,
Chapter II. — The Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians
As the Zend Race was the higher spiritual element of the
Persian Empire, so in Assyria and Babylonia we have the ele-
ment of external wealth, luxury and commerce. Traditions re-
specting them ascend to the remotest periods of History; but
in themselves they are obscure, and partly contradictory; and
this contradiction is the less easy to be cleared up, as they have
no canonical books or indigenous works. The Greek historian
Ctesias is said to have had direct access to the archives of the
Persian Kings ; yet we have only a few fragments remaining.
Herodotus gives us much information; the accounts in the
Bible are also valuable and remarkable in the highest degree,
for the Hebrews were immediately connected with the Baby-
lonians. In regard to the Persians, special mention must be
made of the Epic, " Shah-nameh," by Ferdusi — a heroic poem
in 60,000 strophes, from which Gorres has given a copious
extract. Ferdusi lived at the beginning of the eleventh cen-
tury a.d. at the court of Mahmoud the Great, at Ghasna, east
of Cabui and Candahar. The celebrated Epic just mentioned
has the old heroic traditions of Iran (that is of West Persia
proper) for its subject; but it has not the value of a historical
authority, since its contents are poetical and its author a Ma-
hometan. The contest of Iran and Turan is described in this
heroic poem. Iran is Persia Proper — the Mountain Land on
the south of the Oxus ; Turan denotes the plains of the Oxus
and those lying between it and the ancient Jaxartes. A hero,
Rustan, plays the principal part in the poem ; but its narrations
are either altogether fabulous, or quite distorted. Mention is
made of Alexander, and he is called Ishkander or Skander of
Roum. Roum means the Turkish Empire (even now one of
its provinces is called Roumelia), but it denotes also the Ro-
man; and in the poem Alexander's Empire has equally the ap-
pellation Roum. Confusions of this kind are quite of a piece
with the Mahometan views. It is related in the poem, that the
King of Iran made war on Philip, and that this latter was
beaten. The King then demanded Philip's daughter as a wife ;
but after he had lived a long time with her, he sent her away
because her breath was disagreeable. On returning to her
father, she gave birth to a son — Skander, who hastened to Iran
to take possession of the throne after the death of his father.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 183
Add to the above that in the whole of the poem no personage
or narrative occurs that can be connected with Cyrus, and we
have sufficient data for estimating its historical value. It has
a value for us, however, so far as Ferdusi therein exhibits the
spirit of his time, and the character and interest of Modern
Persian views.
As regards Assyria, we must observe, that it is a rather in-
determinate designation. Assyria Proper is a part of Meso-
potamia, to the north of Babylon. As chief towns of this Em-
pire are mentioned, Atur or Assur on the Tigris, and of later
origin Nineveh, said to have been founded and built by Ninus,
the Founder of the Assyrian Empire. In those times one City
constituted the whole Empire — Nineveh for example: so also
Ecbatana in Media, which is said to have had seven walls, be-
tween whose inclosures agriculture was carried on ; and within
whose innermost wall was the palace of the ruler. Thus
too, Nineveh, according to Diodorus, was 480 Stadia (about 12
German miles — 55 English) in circumference. On the walls,
which were 100 feet high, were fifteen hundred towers, within
which a vast mass of people resided. Babylon included an
equally immense population. These cities arose in consequence
of a twofold necessity — on the one hand that of giving up the
nomad life and pursuing agriculture, handicrafts and trade
in a fixed abode ; and on the other hand of gaining protection
against the roving mountaia peoples, and the predatory Arabs.
Older traditions indicate that this entire valley district was
traversed by Nomads, and that this mode of life gave way be-
fore that of the cities. Thus Abraham wandered forth with his
family from Mesopotamia westwards, into mountainous Pales-
tine. Even at this day the country round Bagdad is thus in-
tested by roving Nomads. Nineveh is said to have been built
2050 years before Christ ; consequently the founding of the As-
syrian Kingdom is of no later date. Ninus reduced under his
sway also Babylonia, Media and Bactriana; the conquest of
which latter country is particularly extolled as having displayed
the greatest energy ; for Ctesias reckons the number of troops
that accompanied Ninus, at 1,700,000 infantry and a propor-
tionate number of cavalry. Bactra was besieged for a very
considerable time, and its conquest is ascribed to Semiramis;
who with a valiant host is said to have ascended the steep
acclivity of a mountain. The personality of Semiramis wavers
184 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
between mythological and historical representations. To her
is ascribed the building of the Tower of Babel, respecting which
we have in the Bible one of the oldest of traditions. — Babylon
lay to the south, on the Euphrates, in a plain of great fertility
and well adapted for agriculture. On the Euphrates and the
Tigris there was considerable navigation. Vessels came partly
from Armenia, partly from the South, to Babylon, and con-
veyed thither an immense amount of material wealth. The land
round Babylon was intersected by innumerable canals; more
for purposes of agriculture — to irrigate the soil and to obviate
inundations — than for navigation. The magnificent buildings
of Semiramis in Babylon itself are celebrated; though how
much of the city is to be ascribed to the more ancient period,
is undetermined and uncertain. It is said that Babylon formed
a square, bisected by the Euphrates. On one side of the stream
was the temple of Bel, on the other the great palaces of the
monarchs. The city is reputed to have had a hundred brazen
(i.e. copper) gates, its walls being a hundred feet high, and
thick in proportion, defended by two hundred and fifty towers.
The thoroughfares in the city which led towards the river were
closed every night by brazen doors. Ker Porter, an English-
man, about twelve years ago (his whole tour occupied from
1 817 to 1820) traversed the countries where ancient Babylon
lay : on an elevation he thought he could discover remains still
existing of the old tower of Babel ; and supposed that he had
found traces of the numerous roads that wound around the
tower, and in whose loftiest story the image of Bel was set up.
There are besides many hills with remains of ancient struct-
ures. The bricks correspond with the description in the Bibli-
cal record of the building of the tower. A vast plain is covered
by an innumerable multitude of such bricks, although for many
thousand years the practice of removing them has been con-
tinued ; and the entire town of Hila, which lies in the vicinity
of the ancient Babylon, has been built with them. Herodotus
relates some remarkable facts in the customs of the Babylo-
nians, which appear to show that they were people living peace-
ably and neighborly with each other. When anyone in Babylon
fell ill, he was brought to some open place, that every passerby
might have the opportunity of giving him his advice. Mar-
riageable daughters were disposed of by auction, and the high
price offered for 3- belle was allotted as a dowry for her plainer
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 185
neighbor. Such an arrangement was not deemed inconsistent
with the obligation under which every woman lay of prostitut-
1 ing herself once in her life in the temple of Mylitta. It is diffi-
cult to discover what connection this had with their religious
ideas. This excepted, according to Herodotus's account, im-
morality invaded Babylon only at a later period, when the
people became poorer. The fact that the fairer portion of the
sex furnished dowries for their less attractive sisters, seems
to confirm his testimony so far as it shows a provident care
.for all ; while that bringing of the sick into the public places
indicates a certain neighborly feeling.
We must here mention the Medes also. They were, like the
Persians, a mountain-people, whose habitations were south and
southwest of the Caspian Sea and stretched as far as Armenia.
Among these Medes the Magi are also noticed as one of the
six tribes that formed the Median people, whose chief charac-
teristics were fierceness, barbarism, and warlike courage. The
capital Ecbatana was built by Dejoces, not earlier. He is said
to have united under his kingly rule the tribes of the Medes;
after they had made themselves free a second time from Assyr-
ian supremacy, and to have induced them to build and to fortify
for him a palace befitting his dignity. As to the religion of the
Medes, the Greeks call all the oriental Priests, Magi, which is
therefore a perfectly indefinite name. But all the data point
to the fact that among the Magi we may look for a compara-
tively close connection with the Zend religion; but that, al-
though the Magi preserved and extended it, it experienced
great modifications in transmission to the various peoples who
adopted it. Xenophon says, that Cyrus was the first that sacri-
ficed to God according to the fashion of the Magi. The Medes
therefore acted as a medium for propagating the Zend Religion.
The Assyrian-Babylonian Empire, which held so many peo-
ples in subjection, is said to have existed for one thousand or
fifteen hundred years. The last ruler was Sardanapalus — a
great voluptuary, according to the descriptions we have of him.
Arbaces, the Satrap of Media, excited the other satraps against
him ; and in combination with them, led the troops which as-
sembled every year at Nineveh to pay the tribute, against Sar-
danapalus. The latter, although he had gained many victories,
was at last compelled to yield before overwhelming force, and
to shut himself up in Nineveh ; and, when he could not longer
186 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
offer resistance, to burn himself there with all his treasure.
According to some chronologists, this took place 888 years B.C. ;
according to others, at the end of the seventh century. After
this catastrophe the empire was entirely broken up: it was
divided into an Assyrian, a Median, and a Babylonian Empire,
to which also belonged the Chaldeans — a mountain people from
the north which had united with the Babylonians. These sev-
eral Empires had in their turn various fortunes; though here
we meet with a confusion in the accounts which has never been
cleared up. Within this period of their existence begins their
connection with the Jews and Egyptians. The Jewish people
succumbed to superior force; the Jews were carried captive
to Babylon, and from them we have accurate information re-
specting the condition of this Empire. According to Daniel's
statements there existed in Babylon a carefully appointed or-
ganization for government business. He speaks of Magians —
from whom the expounders of sacred writings, the soothsayers,
astrologers, Wise Men and Chaldeans who interpreted dreams,
are distinguished. The Prophets generally say much of the
great commerce of Babylon ; but they also draw a terrible pict-
ure of the prevailing depravity of manners.
The real culmination of the Persian Empire is to be looked
for in connection with the Persian people properly so called,
which, embracing in its rule all Anterior Asia, came into con-
tact with the Greeks. The Persians are found in extremely
close and early connection with the Medes ; and the transmis-
sion of the sovereignty to the Persians makes no essential dif-
ference ; for Cyrus was himself a relation of the Median King,
and the names of Persia and Media melt into one. At the head
of the Persians and Medes, Cyrus made war upon Lydia and
its king Croesus. Herodotus relates that there had been wars
before that time between Lydia and Media, but which had been
settled by the intervention of the King of Babylon. We recog-
nize here a system of States, consisting of Lydia, Media, and
Babylon. The latter had become predominant and had ex-
tended its dominion to the Mediterranean Sea. Lydia stretched
eastward as far as the Halys; and the border of the western
coast of Asia Minor, the fair Greek colonies, were subject to
it; a high degree of culture was thus already present in the
Lydian Empire. Art and poetry were blooming there as culti-
vated by the Greeks. These colonies also were subjected to
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 187
Persia. Wise men, such as Bias, and still earlier, Thales, ad-
vised them to unite themselves in a firm league, or to quit their
cities and possessions, and to seek out for themselves other
habitations; (Bias meant Sardinia). But such a union could
not be realized among cities which were animated by the bitter-
est jealousy of each other, and who lived in continual quarrel:
while in the intoxication of affluence they were not capable of
forming the heroic resolve to leave their homes for the sake
of freedom. Only when they were on the very point of being
subjugated by the Persians, did some cities give up certain for
prospective possessions, in their aspiration after the highest
good — Liberty. Herodotus says of the war against the Lyd-
ians, that it made the Persians who were previously poor and
barbarous, acquainted for the first time with the luxuries of
life and civilization. After the Lydian conquest Cyrus subju-
gated Babylon. With it he came into possession of Syria and
Palestine ; freed the Jews from captivity, and allowed them to
rebuild their temple. Lastly, he led an expedition against the
Massagetse; engaged with them in the steppes between the
Oxus and the Jaxartes, but sustained a defeat, and died the
death of a warrior and conqueror. The death of heroes who
have formed an epoch in the History of the World, is stamped
with the character of their mission. Cyrus thus died in his
mission, which was the union of Anterior Asia into one sover-
eignty without an ulterior object.
Chapter III.— The Persian Empire and its Constituent Parts
The Persian Empire is an Empire in the modern sense-
like that which existed in Germany, and the great imperial
reairn under the sway of Napoleon; for we find it consisting
of a number of states, which are indeed dependent, but which
have retained their own individuality, their manners, and laws.
The general enactments, binding upon all, did not infringe
upon their political and social idiosyncrasies, but even protected
and maintained them ; so that each of the nations that constitute
the whole, had its own form of Constitution. As Light illumi-
nates everything — imparting to each object a peculiar vitality
— so the Persian Empire extends over a multitude of nations,
and leaves to each one its particular character. Some have
even kings of their own; each one its distinct language, arms,
188 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
way of life, and customs. All this diversity coexists harmoni-
ously under the impartial dominion of Light. The Persian
Empire comprehends all the three geographical elements, which
we classified as distinct. First, the Uplands of Persia and
Media; next, the Valley-plains of the Euphrates and Tigris,
whose inhabitants are found united in a developed form of civ-
ilization, with Egypt — jthe Valley-plain of the Nile — where
agriculture, industrial arts and sciences flourished ; and lastly
a third element, viz. the nations who encounter the perils of
the sea — the Syrians, the Phoenicians, the inhabitants of the
Greek colonies and Greek Maritime States in Asia Minor.
Persia thus united in itself the three natural principles, while
China and India remained foreign to the sea. We find here
neither that consolidated totality which China presents, nor
that Hindoo life, in which an anarchy of caprice is prevalent
everywhere. In Persia, the government, though joining all
in a central unity, is but a combination of peoples — leaving each
of them free. Thereby a stop is put to that barbarism and
ferocity with which the nations had been wont to carry on their
destructive feuds, and which the Book of Kings and the Book
of Samuel sufficiently attest. The lamentations of the Prophets
And their imprecations upon the state of things before the con-
quest, show the misery, wickedness and disorder that prevailed
among them, and the happiness which Cyrus diffused over
the region of Anterior Asia. It was not given to the Asiatics
to unite self-dependence, freedom and substantial vigor of
mind, with culture, i.e. an interest for diverse pursuits and an
acquaintance with the conveniences of life. Military valor
among them is consistent only with barbarity of manners. It
is not the calm courage of order; and when their mind opens
to a sympathy with various interests, it immediately passes into
effeminacy; allows its energies to sink, and makes men the
slaves of an enervated sensuality.
Persia
The Persians — a free mountain and nomad people — though
ruling over richer, more civilized and fertile lands — retained
on the whole the fundamental characteristics of their ancient
mode of life. They stood with one foot on their ancestral
territory, with the other on their foreign conquests. In his
ancestral land the King was a friend among friends, and as if
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 189
surrounded by equals. Outside of it, he was the lord to whom
all were subject, and bound to acknowledge their dependence
by the payment of tribute. Faithful to the Zend religion, the
Persians give themselves to the pursuit of piety and the pure
worship of Ormuzd. The tombs of the Kings were in Persia
Proper ; and there the King sometimes visited his countrymen,
with whom he lived in relations of the greatest simplicity. He
brought with him presents for fhem, while all other nations
were obliged to make presents to him. At the court of the
monarch there was a division of Persian cavalry which consti-
tuted the elite of the whole army, ate at a common table, and
were subject to a most perfect discipline in every respect. They
made themselves illustrious by their bravery, and even the
Greeks awarded a tribute of respect to their valor in the Median
wars. When the entire Persian host, to which this division
belonged, was to engage in an expedition, a summons was first
issued to all the Asiatic populations. When the warriors were
assembled, the expedition was undertaken with that character
of restlessness, that nomadic disposition which formed the idio-
syncrasy of the Persians. Thus they invaded Egypt, Scythia,
Thrace, and at last Greece; where their vast power was des-
tined to be shattered. A march of this kind looked almost like
an emigration : their families accompanied them. Each people
exhibited its national features and warlike accoutrements, and
poured forth en masse. Each had its own order of march and
mode of warfare. Herodotus sketches for us a brilliant picture
of this variety of aspect as it presented itself in the vast march
of nations under Xerxes (two millions of human beings are
said to have accompanied him). Yet, as these peoples were so
unequally disciplined — so diverse in strength and bravery — it
is easy to understand how the small but well-trained armies
of the Greeks, animated by the same spirit, and under matchless
leadership, could withstand those innumerable but disorderly
hosts of the Persians. The provinces had to provide for the
support of the Persian cavalry, which were quartered in the
centre of the kingdom. Babylon had to contribute the third
part of the supplies in question, and consequently appears to
have been by far the richest district. As regards other branches
of revenue, each people was obliged to supply the choicest of the
peculiar produce which the district afforded. Thus Arabia gave
frankincense, Syria purple, etc.
I9 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The education of the princes — but especially that of the heir
to the throne — was conducted with extreme care. Till
their seventh year the sons of the King remained among
the women, and did not come into the royal presence. From
their seventh year forward they were instructed in hunting,
riding, shooting with the bow, and also in speaking the truth.
There is one statement to the effect that the prince received
instruction in the Magian lore of Zoroaster. Four of the
noblest Persians conducted the prince's education. The mag-
nates of the land, at large, constituted a kind of Diet. Among
them Magi were also found. They are depicted as free men,
animated by a noble fidelity and patriotism. Of such character
seem the seven nobles — the counterpart of the Amshaspand
who stand around Ormuzd — when after the unmasking of the
false Smerdis, who on the death of King Cambyses gave him-
self out as his brother, they assembled to deliberate on the
most desirable form of government. Quite free from passion,
and without exhibiting any ambition, they agree that monarchy
is the only form of government adapted to the Persian Empire.
The Sun, and the horse which first salutes them with a neigh,
decide the succession in favor of Darius. The magnitude of
the Persian dominion occasioned the government of the prov-
inces by viceroys — Satraps; and these often acted very arbi-
trarily to the provinces subjected to their rule, and displayed
hatred and envy towards each other ; a source of much evil.
These satraps were only superior presidents of the provinces,
and generally left the subject kings of the countries in posses-
sion of regal privileges. All the land and all the water be-
longed to the Great King of the Persians. " Land and Water "
were the demands of Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes from the
Greeks. But the King was only the abstract sovereign: the
enjoyment of the country remained to the nations themselves;
whose obligations were comprised in the maintenance of the
court and the satraps, and the contribution of the choicest part
of their property. Uniform taxes first make their appearance
under the government of Darius Hystaspes. On the occasion
of a royal progress the districts of the empire visited had to give
presents to the King; and from the amount of these gifts we
may infer the wealth of the unexhausted provinces. Thus the
dominion of the Persians was by no means oppressive, either in
secular or religious respects. The Persians, according to He-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 191
rodotus, had no idols — in fact ridiculed anthropomorphic rep-
resentations of the gods; but they tolerated every religion,
although there may be found expressions of wrath against idol-
atry. Greek temples were destroyed, and the images of the
gods broken in pieces.
Syria and the Semitic Western Asia
One element — the coast territory — which also belonged to
the Persian Empire, is especially represented by Syria. It was
peculiarly important to the Persian Empire; for when Conti-
nental Persia set out on one of its great expeditions, it was
accompanied by Phoenician as well as by Greek navies. The
Phoenician coast is but a very narrow border — often only two
leagues broad — which has the high mountains of Lebanon on
the East. On the seacoast lay a series of noble and rich cities,
as Tyre, Sidon, Byblus, Berytus, carrying on great trade and
commerce; which last, however, was too isolated and confined
to that particular country, to allow it to affect the whole Persian
state. Their commerce lay chiefly in the direction of the Medi-
terranean sea, and it reached thence far into the West. Through
its intercourse with so many nations, Syria soon attained a high
degree of culture. There the most beautiful fabrications in
metals and precious stones were prepared, and there the most
important discoveries, e.g. of Glass and of Purple, were made.
Written language there received its first development, for in
their intercourse with various nations the need of it was soon
felt. (So, to quote another example, Lord Macartney observes
that in Canton itself, the Chinese had felt and expressed the
need of a more pliable written language.) The Phoenicians
discovered and first navigated the Atlantic Ocean. They had
settlements in Cyprus and Crete. In the remote island of Tha-
sos, they worked gold mines. In the south and southwest of
Spain they opened silver mines. In Africa they founded the
colonies of Utica and Carthage. From Gades they sailed far
down the African coast, and according to some, even circum-
navigated Africa. From Britain they brought tin, and from the
Baltic, Prussian amber. This opens to us an entirely new
principle. Inactivity ceases, as also mere rude valor ; in their
place appears the activity of Industry, and that considerate
courage which, while it dares the perils of the deep, rationally
bethinks itself of the means of safety. Here everything de-
I 9 a PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
pends on Man's activity, his courage, his intelligence ; white
the objects aimed at are also pursued in the interest of Man.
Human will and activity here occupy the foreground, not Nat-
ure and its bounty. Babylonia had its determinate share of
territory, and human subsistence was there dependent on the
course of the sun and the process of Nature generally. But
the sailor relies upon himself amid the fluctuations of the waves,
and eye and heart must be always open. In like manner the
principle of Industry involves the very opposite of what is
received from Nature; for natural objects are worked up for
use and ornament. In Industry Man is an object to himself,
and treats Nature as something subject to him, on which he
impresses the seal of his activity. Intelligence is the valor
needed here, and ingenuity is better than mere natural courage.
At this point we see the nations freed from the fear of Nature
and its slavish bondage.
If we compare their religious ideas with the above, we shall
see in Babylon, in the Syrian tribes, and in Phrygia, first a rude,
vulgar, sensual idolatry — a description of which in its principal
features is given in the Prophets. Nothing indeed more specific
than idolatry is mentioned ; and this is an indefinite term. The
Chinese, the Hindoos, the Greeks, practise idolatry; the Cath-
olics, too, adore the images of saints; but in the sphere of
thought with which we are at present occupied, it is the powers
of Nature and of production generally that constitute the object
of veneration; and the worship is luxury and pleasure. The
Prophets give the most terrible pictures of this — though their
repulsive character must be partly laid to the account of the
hatred of Jews against neighboring peoples. Such representa-
tions are particularly ample in the Book of Wisdom. Not only
was there a worship of natural objects, but also of the Universal
Power of Nature — Astarte, Cybele, Diana of Ephesus. The
worship paid was a sensuous intoxication, excess, and revelry:
sensuality and cruelty are its two characteristic traits. " When
they keep their holy days they act as if mad," [" they are mad
when they be merry " — English Version] says the Book of
Wisdom (xiv. 28). With a merely sensuous life — this being
a form of consciousness which does not attain to general con-
ceptions — cruelty is connected ; because Nature itself is the
Highest, so that Man has no value, or only the most trifling.
Moreover, the genius of such a polytheism involves the de-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
193
struction of its consciousness on the part of Spirit in striving
to identify itself with Nature, and the annihilation of the Spir-
itual generally. Thus we see children sacrificed — priests of
Cybele subjecting themselves to mutilation — men making them-
selves eunuchs — women prostituting themselves in the temple.
As a feature of the court of Babylon it deserves to be remarked,
that when Daniel was brought up there, it was not required
of him to take part in the religious observances ; and moreover
that food ceremonially pure was allowed him; that he was in
requisition especially for interpreting the dreams of the King,
because he had " the spirit of the holy gods." The King pro-
poses to elevate himself above sensuous life by dreams, as indi-
cations from a superior power. It is thus generally evident,
that the bond of religion was lax, and that here no unity is to be
found. For we observe also adorations offered to images of
kings; the power of Nature and the King as a spiritual Power,
are the Highest ; so that in this form of idolatry there is mani-
fested a perfect contrast to the Persian purity.
We find on the other hand something quite different among
the Phoenicians, that bold seafaring people. Herodotus tells
us, that at Tyre Hercules was worshipped. If the divinity in
question i§ not absolutely identical with the Greek demigod,
there must be understood by that name one whose attributes
nearly agree with his. This worship is particularly indicative
of the character of the people ; for it is Hercules of whom the
Greeks say, that he raised himself to Olympus by dint of human
courage and daring. The idea of the Sun perhaps originated
that of Hercules as engaged in his twelve labors ; but this basis
does not give us the chief feature of the myth, which is, that
Hercules is that scion of the gods who, by his virtue and exer-
tion' made himself a god by human spirit and valor ; and who,
instead of passing his life in idleness, spends it in hardship and
toil. A second religious element is the worship of Adonis,
which takes place in the towns of the coast (it was celebrated
in Egypt also by the Ptolemies) ; and respecting which we find
a notable passage in the Book of Wisdom (xiv. 13, etc.), where
it is said : " The idols were not from the beginning — but were
invented through the vain ambition of men, because the latter
are short-lived. For a father afflicted with untimely mourning,
when he had made an image of his child (Adonis) early taken
away, honored him as a god, who was a dead man, and deliv-
i 9 4 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ered to those that were under him ceremonies and sacrifices "
(E. V. nearly). The feast of Adonis was very similar to the
worship of Osiris — the commemoration of his death — a funeral
festival, at which the women broke out into the most extrava-
gant lamentations over the departed god. In India lamentation
is suppressed in the heroism of insensibility; uncomplaining,
the women there plunge into the river, and the men, ingenious
in inventing penances, impose upon themselves the direst tor-
tures; for they give themselves up to the loss of vitality, in
order to destroy consciousness in empty abstract contemplation.
Here, on the contrary, human pain becomes an element of
worship; in pain man realizes his subjectivity: it is expected
of him — he may here indulge self-consciousness and the feeling
of actual existence. Life here regains its value. A universality
of pain is established : for death becomes immanent in the Di-
vine, and the deity dies. Among the Persians we saw Light
and Darkness struggling with each other, but here both prin-
ciples are united in one — the Absolute. The Negative is here,
too, the merely Natural; but as the death of a god, it is not
a limitation attaching to an individual object, but is pure Nega-
tivity itself. And this point is important, because the generic
conception that has to be formed of Deity is Spirit; which
involves its being concrete, and having in it the element of
negativity. The qualities of wisdom and power are also con-
crete qualities, but only as predicates; so that God remains
abstract substantial unity, in which differences themselves van-
ish, and do not become organic elements (Momente) of this
unity. But here the Negative itself is a phase of Deity — the
Natural — Death ; — the worship appropriate to which is grief.
It is in the celebration of the death of Adonis, and of his resur-
rection, that the concrete is made conscious. Adonis is a youth,
who is torn from his parents by a too early death. In China,
in the worship of ancestors, these latter enjoy divine honor.
But parents in their decease only pay the debt of Nature. When
a youth is snatched away by death, the occurrence is regarded
as contrary to the proper order of things ; and while affliction
at the death of parents is no just affliction, in the case of youth
death is a paradox. And this is the deeper element in the con-
ception — that in the Divinity, Negativity — Antithesis — is man-
ifested ; and that the worship rendered to him involves both
elements — the pain felt for the divinity snatched away, and
the joy occasioned by his being found again.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 195
Judaea
The next people belonging to the Persian empire, in that
wide circle of nationalities which it comprises, is the Jewish.
We find here, too, a canonical book — the Old Testament ; in
which the views of this people — whose principle is the exact
opposite of the one just described — are exhibited. While
among the Phoenician people the Spiritual was still limited
by Nature, in the case of the Jews we find it entirely purified ; —
the pure product of Thought. Self-conception appears in the
field of consciousness, and the Spiritual develops itself in sharp
contrast to Nature and to union with it. It is true that we
observed at an earlier stage the pure conception " Brahm " ;
but only as the universal being of Nature; and with this lim-
itation, that Brahm is not himself an object of consciousness.
Among the Persians we saw this abstract being become an
object for consciousness, but it was that of sensuous intuition —
as Light. But the idea of Light has at this stage advanced
to that of " Jehovah " — the purely One. This forms the point
of separation between the East and the West ; Spirit descends
into the depths of its own being, and recognizes the abstract
fundamental principle as the Spiritual. Nature — which in the
East is the primary and fundamental existence — is now de-
pressed to the condition of a mere creature; and Spirit now
occupies the first place. God is known as the creator of all
men, as he is of all nature, and as absolute causality generally.
But this great principle, as further conditioned, is exclusive
Unity. This religion must necessarily possess the element of
exclusiveness, which consists essentially in this — that only the
One People which adopts it, recognizes the One God, and is
acknowledged by him. The God of the Jewish People is the
God only of Abraham and of his seed : National individuality
and a special local worship are involved in such a conception
of deity. Before him all other gods are false: moreover the
distinction between " true " and " false " is quite abstract ; for
as regards the false gods, not a ray of the Divine is supposed
to shine into them. But every form of spiritual force, and
a fortiori every religion is of such a nature, that whatever be
its peculiar character, an affirmative element is necessarily con-
tained in it. However erroneous a religion may be, it possesses
truth, although in a mutilated phase. In every religion there
196 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
is a divine presence, a divine relation ; and a philosophy of His-
tory has to seek out the spiritual element even in the most
imperfect forms. But it does not follow that because it is a
religion, it is therefore good. We must not fall into the lax
conception, that the content is of no importance, but only the
form. This latitudinarian tolerance the Jewish religion does
not admit, being absolutely exclusive.
The Spiritual speaks itself here absolutely free of the Sen-
suous, and Nature is reduced to something merely external
and undivine. This is the true and proper estimate of Nature
at this stage ; for only at a more advanced phase can the Idea
attain a reconciliation [recognize itself] in this its alien form.
Its first utterances will be in opposition to Nature ; for Spirit,
which had been hitherto dishonored, now first attains its due
dignity, while Nature resumes its proper positioa Nature is
conceived as having the ground of its existence in another —
as something posited, created; and this idea, that God is the
lord and creator of Nature, leads men to regard God as the
Exalted One, while the whole of Nature is only his robe of
glory, and is expended in his service. In contrast with this
kind of exaltation, that which the Hindoo religion presents is
only that of indefinitude. In virtue of the prevailing spiritual-
ity the Sensuous and Immoral are no longer privileged, but
disparaged as ungodliness. Only the One — Spirit — the Non-
sensuous is the Truth ; Thought exists free for itself, and true
morality and righteousness can now make their appearance ;
for God is honored by righteousness, and right-doing is " walk-
ing in the way of the Lord." With this is conjoined happiness,
life and temporal prosperity as its reward ; for it is said :
" that thou mayest live long in the land." — Here too also we
have the possibility of a historical view ; for the understanding
has become prosaic; putting the limited and circumscribed in
its proper place, and comprehending it as the form proper to
finite existence: Men are regarded as individuals, not as in-
carnations of God ; Sun as Sun, Mountains as Mountains —
not as possessing Spirit and Will.
We observe among this people a severe religious ceremonial,
expressing a relation to pure Thought. The individual as con-
crete does not become free, because the Absolute itself is not
comprehended as concrete Spirit; since Spirit still appears
posited as non-spiritual — destitute of its proper characteristics.
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
197
It is true that subjective feeling is manifest — the pure heart,
repentance, devotion; but the particular concrete individuality
has not become objective to itself in the Absolute. It therefore
remains closely bound to the observance of ceremonies and of
the Law, the basis of which latter is pure freedom in its ab-
stract form. The Jews possess that which makes them what
they are, through the One: consequently the individual has no
freedom for itself. Spinoza regards the code of Moses as
having been given by God to the Jews for a punishment — a rod
of correction. The individual never comes to the consciousness
of independence; on that account we do not find among the
Jews any belief in the immortality of the soul ; for individuality
does not exist in and for itself. But though in Judaism the
Individual is not respected, the Family has inherent value ; for
the worship of Jehovah is attached to the Family, and it is con-
sequently viewed as a substantial existence. But the State is
an institution not consonant with the Judaistic principle, and it
is alien to the legislation of Moses. In the idea of the Jews,
Jehovah is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob; who
commanded them to depart out of Egypt, and gave them the
land of Canaan. The accounts of the Patriarchs attract
our interest. We seen in this history the transition from
the patriarchal nomade condition to agriculture. On the whole
the Jewish history exhibits grand features of character ; but
it is disfigured by an exclusive bearing (sanctioned in its re-
ligion), towards the genius of other nations (the destruction
of the inhabitants of Canaan being even commanded) — by want
of culture generally, and by the superstition arising from the
idea of the high value of their peculiar nationality. Miracles,
too, form a disturbing feature in this history — as history; for
as far as concrete consciousness is not free, concrete percep-
tion is also not free; Nature is undeified, but not yet under-
stood.
The Family became a great nation ; through the conquest
of Canaan, it took a whole country into possession ; and erected
a Temple for the entire people, in Jerusalem. But properly
speaking no political union existed. In case of national danger
heroes arose, who placed themselves at the head of the armies ;
though the nation during this period was for the most part in
subjection. Later on, kings were chosen, and it was they who
first rendered the Jews independent. David even made con*
198 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
quests. Originally the legislation is adapted to a family only;
yet in the books of Moses the wish for a king is anticipated.
The priests are to choose him: he is not to be a foreigner —
not to have horsemen in large numbers — and he is to have few
wives. After a short period of glory the kingdom suffered
internal disruption and was divided. As there was only one
tribe of Levites and one Temple — i.e. in Jerusalem — idolatry
was immediately introduced. The One God could not be hon-
ored in different Temples, and there could not be two kingdoms
attached to one religion. However spiritual may be the con-
ception of God as objective, the subjective side — the honor ren-
dered to him — is still very limited and unspiritual in character.
The two kingdoms, equally infelicitous in foreign and domestic
warfare, were at last subjected to the Assyrians and Babylo-
nians ; through Cyrus the Israelites obtained permission to re-
turn home and live according to their own laws.
Egypt
The Persian Empire is one that has passed away, and we
have nothing but melancholy relics of its glory. Its fairest
and richest towns — such as Babylon, Susa, Persepolis — are
razed to the ground ; and only a few ruins mark their ancient
site. Even in the more modern great cities of Persia — Ispahan
and Shiraz — half of them has become a ruin; and they have
not — as is the case with ancient Rome — developed a new life,
but have lost their place almost entirely in the remembrance of
the surrounding nations. Besides the other lands already enu-
merated as belonging to the Persian Empire, Egypt claims
notice — characteristically the Land of Ruins ; a land which
from hoar antiquity has been regarded with wonder, and which
in recent times also has attracted the greatest interest. Its
ruins, the final result of immense labor, surpass in the gigantic
and monstrous, all that antiquity has left us.
In Egypt we see united the elements which in the Persian
monarchy appeared singly. We found among the Persians the
adoration of Light — regarded as the Essence of universal Nat-
ure. This principle then develops itself in phases which hold
a position of indifference towards each other. The one is the
immersion in the sensuous — among the Babylonians and Syr-
ians ; the other is the Spiritual phase, which is twofold : first
as the incipient consciousness of the concrete Spirit in the
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
199
worship of Adonis, and then as pure and abstract thought
among the Jews. In the former the concrete is deficient in
unity; in the latter the concrete is altogether wanting. The
next problem is then, to harmonize these contradictory ele-
ments; and this problem presents itself in Egypt. Of the
representations which Egyptian Antiquity presents us with,
one figure must be especially noticed, viz. the Sphinx — in itself
a riddle — an ambiguous form, half brute, half human. The
Sphinx may be regarded as a symbol of the Egyptian Spirit.
The human head looking out from the brute body, exhibits
Spirit as it begins to emerge from the merely Natural — to tear
itself loose therefrom and already to look more freely around
it; without, however, entirely freeing itself from the fetters
Nature had imposed. The innumerable edifices of the Egyp-
tians are half below the ground, and half rise above it into the
air. The whole land is divided into a kingdom of life and
a kingdom of death. The colossal statue of Memnon resounds
at the first glance of the young morning Sun ; though it is not
yet the free light of Spirit with which it vibrates. Written
language is still a hieroglyphic ; and its basis is only the sensu-
ous image, not the letter itself.
Thus the memorials of Egypt themselves give us a multitude
of forms and images that express its character; we recognize
a Spirit in them which feels itself compressed ; which utters
itself, but only in a sensuous mode.
Egypt was always the Land of Marvels, and has remained
so to the present day. It is from the Greeks especially that
we get information respecting it, and chiefly from Herodotus.
This intelligent historiographer himself visited the country of
which he wished to give an account, and at its chief towns
made acquaintance with the Egyptian priests. Of all that he
saw and heard, he gives an accurate record ; but the deeper
symbolism of the Egyptian mythology he has refrained from
unfolding. This he regards as something sacred, and respect-
ing which he cannot so freely speak as of merely external ob-
jects. Besides him Diodorus Siculus is an authority of great
importance ; and among the Jewish historians, Josephus.
In their architecture and hieroglyphics, the thoughts and
conceptions of the Egyptians are expressed. A national work
in the department of language is wanting: and that not only
to us, but to the Egyptians themselves; they could not have
zoo PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
any, because they had not advanced to an understanding of
themselves. Nor was there any Egyptian history, until at last
Ptolemy Philadelphus — he who had the sacred books of the
Jews translated into Greek — prompted the High-Priest Mane-
tho to write an Egyptian history. Of this we have only extracts
— list of Kings; which however have occasioned the greatest
perplexities and contradictory views. To become acquainted
with Egypt, we must for the most part have recourse to the
notices of the ancients, and the immense monuments that are
left us. We find a number of granite walls on which hiero-
glyphics are graved, and the ancients have given us explana-
tions of some of them, but which are quite insufficient. In
recent times attention has especially been recalled to them, and
after many efforts something at least of the hieroglyphic writ-
ing has been deciphered. The celebrated Englishman, Thomas
Young, first suggested a method of discovery, and called atten-
tion to the fact, that there are small surfaces separated from
the other hieroglyphics, and in which a Greek translation is
perceptible. By comparison Young made out three names —
Berenice, Cleopatra, and Ptolemy — and this was the first step
in deciphering them. It was found at a later date, that a great
part of the hieroglyphics are phonetic, that is, express sounds.
Thus the figure of an eye denotes first the eye itself, but sec-
ondly the first letter of the Egyptian word that means " eye "
(as in Hebrew the figure of a house, 2, denotes the letter b,
with which the word T\^2, House, begins). The celebrated
Champollion (the younger), first called attention to the fact
that the phonetic hieroglyphs are intermingled with those which
mark conceptions; and thus classified the hieroglyphs and es-
tablished settled principles for deciphering them.
The History of Egypt, as we have it, is full of the greatest
contradictions. The Mythical is blended with the Historical,
and the statements are as diverse as can be imagined. Euro-
pean literati have eagerly investigated the lists given by Mane-
tho and have relied upon them, and several names of kings have
been confirmed by the recent discoveries. Herodotus says that
according to the statements of the priests, gods had formerly
reigned over Egypt, and that from the first human king down
to the King Setho 341 generations, or 11,340 years, had passed
away ; but that the first human ruler was Menes (the resem-
blance of the name to the Greek Minos and the Hindoo Manu
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 201
is striking). With the exception of the Thebaid — its most
southern part — Egypt was said by them to have formed a lake ;
the Delta presents reliable evidence of having been produced
by the silt of the Nile. As the Dutch have gained their terri-
tory from the sea, and have found means to sustain themselves
upon it; so the Egyptians first acquired their country, and
maintained its fertility by canals and lakes. An important feat-
ure in the history of Egypt is its descent from Upper to Lower
Egypt — from the South to the North. With this is connected
the consideration that Egypt probably received its culture from
Ethiopia ; principally from the island Meroe, which, according
to recent hypotheses, was occupied by a sacerdotal people.
Thebes in Upper Egypt was the most ancient residence of the
Egyptian kings. Even in Herodotus's time it was in a state
of dilapidation. The ruins of this city present the most enor-
mous specimens of Egyptian architecture that we are ac-
quainted with. Considering their antiquity they are remark-
ably well preserved : which is partly owing to the perpetually
cloudless sky. The centre of the kingdom was then transferred
to Memphis, not far from the modern Cairo ; and lastly to Sais,
in the Delta itself. The structures that occur in the locality of
this city are of very late date and imperfectly preserved. He-
rodotus tells us that Memphis was referred to so remote a
founder as Menes. Among the later kings must be especially
noticed Sesostris, who, according to Champollion, is Rameses
the Great. To him in particular are referred a number of mon-
uments and pictures in which are depicted his triumphal pro-
cessions, and the captives taken in battle. Herodotus speaks
of his conquests in Syria, extending even to Colchis ; and illus-
trates his statement by the great similarity between the man-
ners of the Colchians and those of the Egyptians ; these two
nations and the Ethiopians were the only ones that had always
practised circumcision. Herodotus says, moreover, that Sesos-
tris had vast canals dug through the whole of Egypt, which
served to convey the water of the Nile to every part. It may
be generally remarked that the more provident the government
in Egypt was, so much the more regard did it pay to the main-
tenance of the canals, while under negligent governments the
desert got the upper hand ; for Egypt was engaged in a con-
stant struggle with the fierceness of the heat and with the water
of the Nile. It appears from Herodotus, that the country had
,202 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
become impassable for cavalry in consequence of the canals;
while, on the contrary, we see from the books of Moses, how
celebrated Egypt once was in this respect. Moses says that
if the Jews desired a king, he must not marry too many wives,
nor send for horses from Egypt.
Next to Sesostris the Kings Cheops and Chephren deserve
special mention. They are said to have built enormous pyra-
mids and closed the temples of the priests. A son of Cheops —
Mycerinus — is said to have reopened them ; after him the Ethi-
opians invaded the country, and their king, Sabaco, made him-
self sovereign of Egypt. But Anysis, the successor of Myceri-
nus, fled into the marshes — to the mouth of the Nile ; only after
the departure of the Ethiopians did he make his appearance
again. He was succeeded by Setho, who had been a priest of
Phtha (supposed to be the same as Hephaestus) : under his
government, Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians, invaded the
country. Setho had always treated the warrior-caste with great
disrespect, and even robbed them of their lands ; and when he
invoked their assistance, they refused it. He was obliged there-
fore to issue a general summons to the Egyptians, and assem-
bled a host composed of hucksters, artisans, and market people.
In the Bible we are told that the enemies fled, and that it was
the angels who routed them ; but Herodotus relates that field-
mice came in the night and gnawed the quivers and bows of
the enemy, so that the latter, deprived of their weapons, were
compelled to flee. After the death of Setho, the Egyptians
(Herodotus tells us) regarded themselves as free, and chose
themselves twelve kings, who formed a federal union — as a
symbol of which they built the Labyrinth, consisting of an im-
mense number of rooms and halls above and below ground. In
the year 650 b.c. one of these kings, Psammitichus, with the
help of the Ionians and Carians (to whom he promised land in
Lower Egypt), expelled the eleven other kings. Till that time
Egypt had remained secluded from the rest of the world ; and
at sea it had established no connection with other nations.
Psammitichus commenced such a connection, and thereby led
the way to the ruin of Egypt. From this point the history be-
comes clearer, because it is based on Greek accounts. Psammit-
ichus was followed by Necho, who began to dig a canal, which
was to unite the Nile with the Red Sea, but which was not
completed until the reign of Darius Nothus. The plan of unit-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 203
ing the Mediterranean Sea with the Arabian Gulf, and the
wide ocean, is not so advantageous as might be supposed ; since
in the Red Sea — which on other accounts is very difficult to nav-
igate — there prevails for about nine months in the year a con-
stant north wind, so that it is only during three months that
the passage from south to north is feasible. Necho was fol-
lowed by Psammis, and the latter by Apries, who led an army
against Sidon, and engaged with the Tyrians by sea: against
Cyrene also he sent an army, which was almost annihilated by
the Cyrenians. The Egyptians rebelled against him, accusing
him of wishing to lead them to destruction ; but this revolt was
probably caused by the favor shown by him to the Carians and
Ionians. Amasis placed himself at the head of the rebels, con-
quered the king, and possessed himself of the throne. By
Herodotus he is depicted as a humorous monarch, who, how-
ever, did not always maintain the dignity of the throne. From
a very humble station he had raised himself to royalty by
ability, astuteness, and intelligence, and he exhibited in all
other relations the same keen understanding. In the morning
he held his court of judicature, and listened to the complaints
of the people; but in the afternoon, feasted and surrendered
himself to pleasure. To his friends, who blamed him on this
account, and told him that he ought to give the whole day
to business, he made answer : " If the bow is constantly on the
stretch, it becomes useless or breaks." As the Egyptians
thought less of him on account of his mean descent, he had
a golden basin — used for washing the feet — made into the im-
age of a god in high honor among the Egyptians; this he
meant as a symbol of his own elevation. Herodotus relates,
moreover, that he indulged in excesses as a private man, dissi-
pated the whole of his property, and then betook himself to
stealing. This contrast of a vulgar soul and a keen intellect
is characteristic in an Egyptian king.
Amasis drew down upon him the ill-will of King Cambyses.
Cyrus desired an oculist from the Egyptians ; for at that time
the Egyptian oculists were very famous, their skill having
been called out by the numerous eye-diseases prevalent in
Egypt. This oculist, to revenge himself for having been sent
out of the country, advised Cambyses to ask for the daughter
of Amasis in marriage ; knowing well that Amasis would either
be rendered unhappy by giving her to him, or on ?ae othec
Vol. 23 J— Classics
204 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
hand, incur the wrath of Cambyses by refusing. Amasis would
not give his daughter to Cambyses, because the latter desired
her as an inferior wife (for his lawful spouse must be a Per-
sian) ; but sent him, under the name of his own daughter, that
of Apries, who afterwards discovered her real name to Cam-
byses. The latter was so incensed at the deception, that he led
an expedition against Egypt, conquered that country, and
united it with the Persian Empire.
As to the Egyptian Spirit, it deserves mention here, that the
Elians in Herodotus's narrative call the Egyptians the wisest
of mankind. It also surprises us to find among them, in the
vicinity of African stupidity, reflective intelligence, a thor-
oughly rational organization characterizing all institutions, and
most astonishing works of art. The Egyptians were, like the
Hindoos, divided into castes, and the children always continued
the trade and business of their parents. On this account, also,
the Mechanical and Technical in the arts was so much devel-
oped here; while the hereditary transmission of occupations
did not produce the same disadvantageous results in the char-
acter of the Egyptians as in India. Herodotus mentions the
seven following castes : the priests, the warriors, the neatherds,
the swineherds, the merchants (or trading population gener-
ally), the interpreters — who seem only at a later date to have
constituted a separate class — and, lastly, the seafaring class.
Agriculturists are not named here, probably because agriculture
was the occupation of several castes, as, e.g., the warriors, to
whom a portion of the land was given. Diodorus and Strabo
give a different account of these caste-divisions. Only priests,
warriors, herdsmen, agriculturists, and artificers are mentioned,
to which latter, perhaps, tradesmen also belong. Herodotus
says of the priests, that they in particular received arable land,
and had it cultivated for rent ; for the land generally was in
the possession of the priests, warriors, and kings. Joseph was
a minister of the king, according to Holy Scripture, and con-
trived to make him master of all landed property. But the
several occupations did not remain so stereotyped as among the
Hindoos ; for we find the Israelites, who were originally herds-
men, employed also as manual laborers : and there was a king
— as stated above — who formed an army of manual laborers
alone. The castes are not rigidly fixed, but struggle with and
come into contact with one another-; we often find cases of
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
205
their being broken up and in a state of rebellion. The warrior-
caste, at one time discontented on account of their not being
released from their abodes in the direction of Nubia, and des-
perate at not being able to make use of their lands, betake them-
selves to Meroe, and foreign mercenaries are introduced into
the country.
Of the mode of life among the Egyptians, Herodotus sup-
plies a very detailed account, giving prominence to everything
which appears to him to deviate from Greek manners. Thus
the Egyptians had physicians specially devoted to particular
diseases; the women were engaged in outdoor occupations,
while the men remained at home to weave. In one part of
Egypt polygamy prevailed ; in another, monogamy ; the women
had but one garment, the men two ; they wash and bathe much,
and undergo purification every month. All this points to a
condition of settled peace. As to arrangements of police, the
law required that every Egyptian should present himself, at a
time appointed, before the superintendent under whom he lived,
and state from what resources he obtained his livelihood. If
he could not refer to any, he was punished with death. This
law, however, was of no earlier date than Amasis. The greatest
care, moreover, was observed in the division of the arable land,
as also in planning canals and dikes ; under Sabaco, the Ethi-
opian king, says Herodotus, many cities were elevated by dikes.
The business of courts of justice was administered with very
great care. They consisted of thirty judges nominated by the
district, and who chose their own president. Pleadings were
conducted in writing, and proceeded as far as the " rejoinder."
Diodorus thinks this plan very effectual, in obviating the per-
verting influence of forensic oratory, and of the sympathy of
the judges. The latter pronounced sentence silently, and in a
hieroglyphical manner. Herodotus says, that they had a sym-
bol of truth on their breasts, and turned it towards that side
in whose favor the cause was decided, or adorned the victorious
party with it. The king himself had to take part in judicial
business every day. Theft, we are told, was forbidden; but
the law commanded that thieves should inform against them-
selves. If they did so, they were not punished, but, on the
contrary, were allowed to keep a fourth part of what they had
stolen. This perhaps was designed to excite and keep in exer-
cise that cunning for which the Egyptians were so celebrated.
206 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The intelligence displayed in their legislative economy, ap-
pears characteristic of the Egyptians. This intelligence, which
manifests itself in the practical, we also recognize in the pro-
ductions of art and science. The Egyptians are reported to
have divided the year into twelve months, and each month into
thirty days. At the end of the year they intercalated five addi-
tional days, and Herodotus says that their arrangement was
better than that of the Greeks. The intelligence of the Egyp-
tians especially strikes us in the department of mechanics.
Their vast edifices — such as no other nation has to exhibit,
and which excel all others in solidity and size — sufficiently
prove their artistic skill ; to whose cultivation they could largely
devote themselves, because the inferior castes did not trouble
themselves with political matters. Diodorus Siculus says, that
Egypt was the only country in which the citizens did not
trouble themselves about the state, but gave their whole atten-
tion to their private business. Greeks and Romans must have
been especially astonished at such a state of things.
On account of its judicious economy, Egypt was regarded
by the ancients as the pattern of a morally regulated condition
of things — as an ideal such as Pythagoras realized in a limited
select society, and Plato sketched on a larger scale. But in such
ideals no account is taken of passion. A plan of society that
is to be adopted and acted upon, as an absolutely complete one
— in which everything has been considered, and especially the
education and habituation to it, necessary to its becoming a
second nature — is altogether opposed to the nature of Spirit,
which makes contemporary life the object on which it acts;
itself being the infinite impulse of activity to alter its forms.
This impulse also expressed itself in Egypt in a peculiar way.
It would appear at first as if a condition of things so regular,
so determinate in every particular, contained nothing that had
a peculiarity entirely its own. The introduction of a religious
element would seem to be an affair of no critical moment, pro-
vided the higher necessities of men were satisfied ; we should
in fact rather expect that it would be introduced in a peaceful
way and in accordance with the moral arrangement of things
already mentioned. But in contemplating the Religion of the
Egyptians, we are surprised by the strangest and most wonder-
ful phenomena, and perceive that this calm order of things,
bound fast by legislative enactment, is not like that of the
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 207
Chinese, but that we have here to do with a Spirit entirely
different — one full of stirring and urgent impulses. We have
here the African element, in combination with Oriental massive-
ness, transplanted to the Mediterranean Sea, that grand locale
of the display of nationalities ; but in such a manner, that here
there is no connection with foreign nations — this mode of stim-
ulating intellect appearing superfluous; for we have here a
prodigious urgent striving within the nationality itself, and
which within its own circle shoots out into an objective realiza-
tion of itself in the most monstrous productions. It is that
African imprisonment of ideas combined with the infinite im-
pulse of the spirit to realize itself objectively, which we find
here. But Spirit has still, as it were, an iron band around its
forehead; so that it cannot attain to the free consciousness
of its existence, but produces this only as the problem, the
enigma of its being.
The fundamental conception of that which the Egyptians
regard as the essence of being, rests on the determinate char-
acter of the natural world, in which they live ; and more par-
ticularly on the determinate physical circle which the Nile and
the Sun mark out. These two are strictly connected — the posi-
tion of the Sun and that of the Nile ; and to the Egyptian this
is all in all. The Nile is that which essentially determines the
boundaries of the country; beyond the Nile-valley begins the
desert; on the north, Egypt is shut in by the sea, and on the
south by torrid heat. The first Arab leader that conquered
Egypt, writes to the Caliph Omar : " Egypt is first a vast sea
of dust ; then a sea of fresh water ; lastly, it is a great sea of
flowers. It never rains there; towards the end of July dew
falls, and then the Nile begins to overflow its banks, and Egypt
resembles a sea of islands." (Herodotus compares Egypt, dur-
ing this period, with the islands in the .^Egean.) The Nile
leaves behind it prodigious multitudes of living creatures : then
appear moving and creeping things innumerable; soon after,
man begins to sow the ground, and the harvest is very abun-
dant. Thus the existence of the Egyptian does not depend
on the brightness of the sun, or the quantity of rain. For him,
on the contrary, there exist only those perfectly simple condi-
tions, which form the basis of his mode of life and its occupa-
tions. There is a definite physical cycle, which the Nile pur-
sues, and which is connected with the course of the Sun ; the
20 8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
latter advances, reaches its culmination, and then retrogrades.
So also does the Nile.
This basis of the life of the Egyptians determines more-
over the particular tenor of their religious views. A con-
troversy has long been waged respecting the sense of mean-
ing of the Egyptian religion. As early as the reign of Tiberius,
the Stoic Chaeremon, who had been in Egypt, explains it in
a purely materialistic sense. The New Platonists take a di-
rectly opposite view, regarding all as symbols of a spiritual
meaning, and thus making this religion a pure Idealism. Each
of these representations is one-sided. Natural and spiritual
powers are regarded as most intimately united — (the free spir-
itual import, however, has not been developed at this stage
of thought) — but in such a way, that the extremes of the
antithesis were united in the harshest contrast. We have
spoken of the Nile, of the Sun, and of the vegetation depending
upon them. This limited view of Nature gives the principle
of the religion, and its subject-matter is primarily a history.
The Nile and the Sun constitute the divinities, conceived under
human forms ; and the course of nature and the mythological
history is the same. In the winter solstice the power of the
sun has reached its minimum, and must be born anew. Thus
also Osiris appears as born; but he is killed by Typhon — his
brother and enemy — the burning wind of the desert. Isis, the
Earth — from whom the aid of the Sun and of the Nile has been
withdrawn — yearns after him : she gathers the scattered bones
of Osiris, and raises her lamentation for him, and all Egypt
bewails with her the death of Osiris, in a song which Herodotus
calls Maneros. Maneros he reports to have been the only son
of the first king of the Egyptians, and to have died prematurely ;
this song being also the Linus-Song of the Greeks, and the
only song which the Egyptians have. Here again pain is re-
garded as something divine, and the same honor is assigned
to it here as among the Phoenicians. Hermes then embalms
Osiris ; and his grave is shown in various places. Osiris is now
judge of the dead, and lord of the kingdom of the Shades.
These are the leading ideas. Osiris, the Sun, the Nile; this
triplicity of being is united in one knot. The Sun is the symbol,
in which Osiris and the history of that god are recognized, and
the Nile is likewise such a symbol. The concrete Egyptian
imagination also ascribes to Osiris and Isis the introduction]
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 209
of agriculture, the invention of the plough, the hoe, etc. ; for
Osiris gives not only the useful itself — the fertility of the earth
— but, moreover, the means of making use of it. He also gives
men laws, a civil order and a religious ritual ; he thus places
in men's hands the means of labor, and secures its result. Osiris
is also the symbol of the seed which is placed in the earth, and
then springs up — as also of the course of life. Thus we find
this heterogeneous duality — the phenomena of Nature and the
Spiritual — woven together into one knot.
The parallelism of the course of human life with the Nile,
the Sun and Osiris, is not to be regarded as a mere allegory —
as if the principle of birth, of increase in strength, of the cul-
mination of vigor and fertility, of decline and weakness, ex-
hibited itself in these different phenomena, in an equal or sim-
ilar way; but in this variety imagination conceived only one
subject, one vitality. This unity is, however, quite abstract:
the heterogeneous element shows itself therein as pressing and
urging, and in a confusion which sharply contrasts with Greek
perspicuity. Osiris represents the Nile and the Sun : Sun and
Nile are, on the other hand, symbols of human life — each one
is signification and symbol at the same time; the symbol is
changed into signification, and this latter becomes symbol of
that symbol, which itself then becomes signification. None
of these phases of existence is a Type without being at the same
time a Signification ; each is both ; the one is explained by the
other. Thus there arises one pregnant conception, composed
of many conceptions, in which each fundamental nodus retains
its individuality, so that they are not resolved into a general
idea. The general idea — the thought itself, which forms the
bond of analogy — does not present itself to the consciousness
purely and freely as such, but remains concealed as an internal
connection. We have a consolidated individuality, combining
various phenomenal aspects; and which on the one hand is
fanciful, on account of the combination of apparently disparate
material, but on the other hand internally and essentially con-
nected, because these various appearances are a particular pro-
saic matter of fact.
Besides this fundamental conception, we observe several spe-
cial divinities, of whom Herodotus reckons three classes. Of
the first he mentions eight gods ; of the second twelve ; of the
third an indefinite number, who occupy the position towards
210 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the unity of Osiris of specific manifestations. In the first class,
Fire and its use appears as Phtha, also as Knef, who is besides
represented as the Good Genius; but the Nile itself is held
to be that Genius, and thus abstractions are changed into con-
crete conceptions. Ammon is regarded as a great divinity, with
whom is associated the determination of the equinox : it is he,
moreover, who gives oracles. But Osiris is similarly repre-
sented as the founder of oracular manifestations. So the Pro-
creative Power, banished by Osiris, is represented as a particu-
lar divinity. But Osiris is himself this Procreative Power.
Isis is the Earth, the Moon, the receptive fertility of Nature.
As an important element in the conception Osiris, Anubis
(Thoth) — the Egyptian Hermes — must be specially noticed.
In human activity and invention, and in the economy of legis-
lation, the Spiritual, as such, is embodied ; and becomes in this
form — which is itself determinate and limited — an object of
consciousness. Here we have the Spiritual, not as one infinite,
independent sovereignty over nature, but as a particular ex-
istence, side by side with the powers of Nature — characterized
also by intrinsic particularity. And thus the Egyptians had
also specific divinities, conceived as spiritual activities and
forces; but partly intrinsically limited — partly [so, as] con-
templated under natural symbols.
The Egyptian Hermes is celebrated as exhibiting the spir-
itual side of their theism. According to Jamblichus, the Egyp-
tian priests immemorially prefixed to all their inventions the
name Hermes : Eratosthenes, therefore, called his book, which
treated of the entire science of Egypt — " Hermes." Anubis
is called the friend and companion of Osiris. To him is as-
cribed the invention of writing, and of science generally — of
grammar, astronomy, mensuration, music, and medicine. It
was he who first divided the day into twelve hours: he was
moreover the first lawgiver, the first instructor in religious ob-
servances and objects, and in gymnastics and orchestics; and
it was he who discovered the olive. But, notwithstanding all
these spiritual attributes, this divinity is something quite other
than the God of Thought. Only particular human arts and
inventions are associated with him. Not only so; but he
entirely falls back into involvement in existence, and is de-
graded under physical symbols. He is represented with a
dog's head, as an imbruted god; and besides this mask, a
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 211
particular natural object is bound up with the conception of
this divinity ; for he is at the same time Sirius, the Dog- Star.
He is thus as limited in respect of what he embodies, as
sensuous in the positive existence ascribed to him. It may be
incidentally remarked, that as Ideas and Nature are not distin-
guished from each other, in the same way the arts and appli-
ances of human life are not developed and arranged so as to
form a rational circle of aims and means. Thus medicine —
deliberation respecting corporeal disease — as also the whole
range of deliberation and resolve with regard to undertakings
in life — was subjected to the most multifarious superstition
in the way of reliance on oracles and magic arts. Astronomy
was also essentially Astrology, and Medicine an affair of magic,
but more particularly of Astrology. All astrological and sym-
pathetic superstition may be traced to Egypt.
Egyptian Worship is chiefly Zoolatry. We have observed
the union here presented between the Spiritual and the Natural :
the more advanced and elevated side of this conception is the
fact that the Egyptians, while they observed the Spiritual as
manifested in the Nile, the Sun, and the sowing of seed, took
the same view of the life of animals. To us Zoolatry is repul-
sive. We may reconcile ourselves to the adoration of the
material heaven, but the worship of brutes is alien to us ; for
the abstract natural element seems to us more generic, and
therefore more worthy of veneration. Yet it is certain that
the nations who worshipped the Sun and the Stars by no means
occupy a higher grade than those who adore brutes, but con-
trariwise; for in the brute world the Egyptians contemplate
a hidden and incomprehensible principle. We also, when we
contemplate the life and action of brutes, are astonished at their
instinct — the adaptation of their movements to the object in-
tended — their restlessness, excitability, and liveliness ; for they
are exceedingly quick and discerning in pursuing the ends of
their existence, while they are at the same time silent and shut
up within themselves. We cannot make out what it is that
" possesses " these creatures, and cannot rely on them. A black
tom-cat, with its glowing eyes and its now gliding, now quick
and darting movement, has been deemed the presence of a
malignant being — a mysterious reserved spectre: the dog, the
canary-bird, on the contrary, appear friendly and sympathizing.
The lower animals are the truly Incomprehensible. A man
212 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
cannot by imagination or conception enter into the nature of
a dog, whatever resemblance he himself might have to it; it
remains something altogether alien to him. It is in two depart-
ments that the so-called Incomprehensible meets us — in living
Nature and in Spirit. But in very deed it is only in Nature
that we have to encounter the Incomprehensible ; for the being
manifest to itself is the essence [supplies the very definition of],
Spirit: Spirit understands and comprehends Spirit. The ob-
tuse self-consciousness of the Egyptians, therefore, to which
the thought of human freedom is not yet revealed, worships
the soul as still shut up within and dulled by the physical
organization, and sympathizes with brute life. We find a ven-
eration of mere vitality among other nations also: sometimes
expressly, as among the Hindoos and all the Mongolians ; some-
times in mere traces, as among the Jews : " Thou shalt not eat
the blood of animals, for in it is the life of the animal." The
Greeks and Romans also regarded birds as specially intelli-
gent, believing that what in the human spirit was not revealed
— the Incomprehensible and Higher — was to be found in them.
But among the Egyptians this worship of beasts was carried to
excess under the forms of a most stupid and non-human super-
stition. The worship of brutes was among them a matter of
particular and detailed arrangement : each district had a brute
deity of its own — a cat, an ibis, a crocodile, etc. Great estab-
lishments were provided for them ; beautiful mates were as-
signed them ; and, like human beings, they were embalmed
after death. The bulls were buried, but with their horns pro-
truding above their graves ; the bulls embodying Apis had
splendid monuments, and some of the pyramids must be looked
upon as such. In one of those that have been opened, there
was found in the most central apartment a beautiful alabaster
coffin ; and on closer examination it was found that the bones
inclosed were those of the ox. This reverence for brutes was
often carried to the most absurd excess of severity. If a man
killed one designedly, he was punished with death ; but even
the undesigned killing of some animals might entail death. It
is related, that once when a Roman in Alexandria killed a cat,
an insurrection ensued, in which the Egyptians murdered the
aggressor. They would let human beings perish by famine,
rather than allow the sacred animals to be killed, or the provi-
sion made for them trenched upon. Still more than mere vital-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 213
ity, the universal vis vita of productive nature was venerated
in a Phallus- worship ; which the Greeks also adopted into the
rites paid by them to Dionysus. With this worship the greatest
excesses were connected.
The brute form is, on the other hand, turned into a symbol :
it is also partly degraded to a mere hieroglyphical sign. I refer
here to the innumerable figures on the Egyptian monuments,
of sparrow-hawks or falcons, dung-beetles, scarabsei, etc. It
is not known what ideas such figures symbolized, and we can
scarcely think that a satisfactory view of this very obscure sub-
ject is attainable. The dung-beetle is said to be the symbol
of generation — of the sun and its course ; the Ibis, that of the
Nile's overflowing; birds of the hawk tribe, of prophecy — of
the year — of pity. The strangeness of these combinations re-
sults from the circumstance that we have not, as in our idea
of poetical invention, a general conception embodied in an im-
age; but, conversely, we begin with a concept in the sphere
of sense, and imagination conducts us into the same sphere
again. But we observe the conception liberating itself from
the direct animal form, and the continued contemplation of it;
and that which was only surmised and aimed at in that form,
advancing to comprehensibility and conceivableness. The hid-
den meaning — the Spiritual — emerges as a human face from
the brute. The multiform sphinxes, with lions' bodies and
virgins' heads — or as male sphinxes (avBpocfayyes) with
beards — are evidence supporting the view, that the meaning
of the Spiritual is the problem which the Egyptians proposed
to themselves; as the enigma generally is not the utterance
of something unknown, but is the challenge to discover it — ■
implying a wish to be revealed. But conversely, the human
form is also disfigured by a brute face, with the view of giving
it a specific and definite expression. The refined art of Greece
is able to attain a specific expression through the spiritual char-
acter given to an image in the form of beauty, and does not need
to deform the human face in order to be understood. The
Egyptians appended an explanation to the human forms, even
of the gods, by means of heads and masks of brutes ; Anubis
e.g. has a dog's head, Isis, a lion's head with bull's horns, etc.
The priests, also, in performing their functions, are masked
as falcons, jackals, bulls, etc.; in the same way the surgeon,
who has taken out the bowels of the dead (represented as flee-
214 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
ing, for he has laid sacrilegious hands on an object once hal-
lowed by life) ; so also the embalmers and the scribes. The
sparrow-hawk, with a human head and outspread wings, de-
notes the soul flying through material space, in order to animate
a new body. The Egyptian imagination also created new forms
— combinations of different animals: serpents with bulls' and
rams' heads, bodies of lions with rams' heads, etc.
We thus see Egypt intellectually confined by a narrow,
involved, close view of Nature, but breaking through this ; im-
pelling it to self-contradiction, and proposing to itself the prob-
lem which that contradiction implies. The [Egyptian] prin-
ciple does not remain satisfied with its primary conditions, but
points to that other meaning and spirit which lies concealed
beneath the surface.
In the view just given, we saw the Egyptian Spirit working
itself free from natural forms. This urging, powerful Spirit,
however, was not able to rest in the subjective conception of
that view of things which we have now been considering, but
was impelled to present it to external consciousness and out-
ward vision by means of Art. — For the religion of the Eternal
One — the Formless — Art is not only unsatisfying, but — since
its object essentially and exclusively occupies the thought —
something sinful. But Spirit, occupied with the contemplation
of particular natural forms — being at the same time a striving
and plastic Spirit — changes the direct, natural view, e.g., of
the Nile, the Sun, etc., to images, in which Spirit has a share.
It is, as we have seen, symbolizing Spirit ; and as such, it en-
deavors to master these symbolizations, and to present them
clearly before the mind. The more enigmatical and obscure I
it is to itself, so much the more does it feel the impulse to labor
to deliver itself from its imprisonment, and to gain a clear ob-
jective view of itself.
It is the distinguishing feature of the Egyptian Spirit, that
it stands before us as this mighty taskmaster. It is not splen-
dor, amusement, pleasure, or the like that it seeks. The force
which urges it is the impulse of self-comprehension; and it
has no other material or ground to work on, in order to teach
itself what it is — to realize itself for itself — than this working
out its thoughts in stone; and what it engraves on the stone
are its enigmas — these hieroglyphs. They are of two kinds —
hieroglyphs proper, designed rather to express language, and
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 215
having reference to subjective conception ; and a class of hiero-
glyphs of a different kind, viz. those enormous masses of archi-
tecture and sculpture, with which Egypt is covered. While
among other nations history consists of a series of events — as,
e.g., that of the Romans, who century after century, lived only
with a view to conquest, and accomplished the subjugation of
the world — the Egyptians raised an empire equally mighty —
of achievements in works of art, whose ruins prove their inde-
structibility, and which are greater and more worthy of as-
tonishment than all other works of ancient or modern time.
Of these works I will mention no others than those devoted
to the dead, and which especially attract our attention. These
are the enormous excavations in the hills along the Nile at
Thebes, whose passages and chambers are entirely filled with
mummies — subterranean abodes as large as the largest mining
works of our time : next, the great field of the dead in the plain
of Sais, with its walls and vaults: thirdly, those Wonders of
the World, the Pyramids, whose destination, though stated
long ago by Herodotus and Diodorus, has been only recently
expressly confirmed — to the effect, viz., that these prodigious
crystals, with their geometrical regularity, contain dead bodies :
and lastly, that most astonishing work, the Tombs of the Kings,
of which one has been opened by Belzpni in modern times.
It is of essential moment to observe, what importance this
realm of the dead had for the Egyptian : we may thence gather
what idea he had of man. For in the Dead, man conceives of
man as stripped of all adventitious wrappages — as reduced to
his essential nature. But that which a people regards as man
in his essential characteristics, that it is itself — such is its
character.
In the first place, we must here cite the remarkable fact which
Herodotus tells us, viz., that the Egyptians were the first to
express the thought that the soul of man is immortal. But this
proposition that the soul is immortal is intended to mean that
it is something other than Nature — that Spirit is inherently
independent. The ne plus ultra of blessedness among the Hin-
doos, was the passing over into abstract unity — into Nothing-
ness. On the other hand, subjectivity, when free, is inherently
infinite : the Kingdom of free Spirit is therefore the Kingdom
of the Invisible — such as Hades was conceived by the Greeks.
This presents itself to men first as the empire of death — to the
Egyptians as the Realm of the Dead.
2i6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The idea that Spirit is immortal, involves this — that the
human individual inherently possesses infinite value. The
merely Natural appears limited — absolutely dependent upon
something other than itself — and has its existence in that other;
but Immortality involves the inherent infinitude of Spirit. This
idea is first found among the Egyptians. But it must be added,
that the soul was known to the Egyptians previously only as
an atom — that is, as something concrete and particular. For
with that view is immediately connected the notion of Metem-
psychosis — the idea that the soul of man may also become the
tenant of the body of a brute. Aristotle too speaks of this idea,
and despatches it in few words. Every subject, he says, has
its particular organs, for its peculiar mode of action: so the
smith, the carpenter, each for his own craft. In like manner
the human soul has its peculiar organs, and the body of a brute
cannot be its domicile. Pythagoras adopted the doctrine of
Metempsychosis; but it could not find much support among
the Greeks, who held rather to the concrete. The Hindoos
have also an indistinct conception of this doctrine, inasmuch
as with them the final attainment is absorption in the universal
Substance. But with the Egyptians the Soul — the Spirit — is,
at any rate, an affirmative being, although only abstractedly af-
firmative. The period occupied by the soul's migrations was
fixed at three thousand years; they affirmed, however, that
a soul which had remained faithful to Osiris, was not subject
to such a degradation — for such they deem it.
It is well known that the Egyptians embalmed their dead;
and thus imparted such a degree of permanence, that they have
been preserved even to the present day, and may continue as
they are for many centuries to come. This indeed seems incon-
sistent with their idea of immortality; for if the soul has an
independent existence, the permanence of the body seems a
matter of indifference. But on the other hand it may be said,
that if the soul is recognized as a permanent existence, honor
should be shown to the body, as its former abode. The Parsees
lay the bodies of the dead in exposed places to be devoured by
birds ; but among them the soul is regarded as passing forth
into universal existence. Where the soul is supposed to enjoy
continued existence, the body must also be considered to hav?
some kind of connection with this continuance. Among us,
indeed, the doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul assumes
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 217
the higher form : Spirit is in and for itself eternal ; its destiny
is eternal blessedness. — The Egyptians made their dead into
mummies ; and did not occupy themselves further with them ;
no honor was paid them beyond this. Herodotus relates of the
Egyptians, that when any person died, the women went about
loudly lamenting ; but the idea of Immortality is not regarded
in the light of a consolation, as among us.
From what was said above, respecting the works for the
Dead, it is evident that the Egyptians, and especially their
kings, made it the business of their life to build their sepulchre,
and to give their bodies a permanent abode. It is remarkable
that what had been needed for the business of life, was buried
with the dead. Thus the craftsman had his tools : designs on
the coffin show the occupation to which the deceased had de-
voted himself; so that we are able to become acquainted with
him in all the minutiae of his condition and employment. Many
mummies have been found with "a roll of papyrus under their
arm, and this was formerly regarded as a remarkable treasure.
But these rolls contain only various representations of the pur-
suits of life — together with writings in the Demotic character.
They have been deciphered, and the discovery has been made,
that they are all deeds of purchase, relating to pieces of ground
and the like ; in which everything is most minutely recorded —
even the duties that had to be paid to the royal chancery on the
occasion. What, therefore, a person bought during his life, is
made to accompany him — in the shape of a legal document —
in death. In this monumental way we are made acquainted
with the private life of the Egyptians, as with that of the
Romans through the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
After the death of an Egyptian, judgment was passed upon
him. — One of the principal representations on the sarcophagi
is this judicial process in the realm of the dead. Osiris — with
Isis behind him — appears, holding a balance, while before him
stands the soul of the deceased. But judgment was passed on
the dead by the living themselves ; and that not merely in the
case of private persons, but even of kings. The tomb of a
certain king has been discovered — very large, and elaborate in
its architecture — in whose hieroglyphs the name of the principal
person is obliterated, while in the bas-reliefs and pictorial de-
signs the chief figure is erased. This has been explained to
import that the honor of being thus immortalized, was refused
this king by the sentence of the Court of the Dead.
2i8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
If Death thus haunted the minds of the Egyptians during
life, it might be supposed that their disposition was melancholy.
But the thought of death by no means occasioned depression.
At banquets they had representations of the dead (as Herodo-
tus relates), with the admonition: "Eat and drink — such a
one wilt thou become, when thou art dead." Death was thus
to them rather a call to enjoy Life. Osiris himself dies, and
goes down into the realm of death, according to the above-men-
tioned Egyptian myth. In many places in Egypt, the sacred
grave of Osiris was exhibited. But he was also represented as
president of the Kingdom of the Invisible Sphere, and as judge
of the dead in it; later on, Serapis exercised this function in
his place. Of Anubis-Hermes the myth says, that he embalmed
the body of Osiris: this Anubis sustained also the office of
leader of the souls of the dead ; and in the pictorial represen-
tations he stands, with a writing tablet in his hand, by the side
of Osiris. The reception of the dead into the Kingdom of
Osiris had also a profounder import, viz., that the individual
was united with Osiris. On the lids of the sarcophagi, there-
fore, the defunct is represented as having himself become
Osiris; and in deciphering the hieroglyphs, the idea has
been suggested that the kings are called gods. The human and
the divine are thus exhibited as united.
If, in conclusion, we combine what has been said here of the
peculiarities of the Egyptian Spirit in all its aspects, its per-
vading principle is found to be, that the two elements of reality
— Spirit sunk in Nature, and the impulse to liberate it — are
here held together inharmoniously as contending elements. We
behold the antithesis of Nature and Spirit — not the primary
Immediate Unity [as in the less advanced nations], nor the
Concrete Unity, where Nature is posited only as a basis for
the manifestation of Spirit [as in the more advanced] ; in con-
trast with the first and second of these Unities, the Egyptian
Unity — combining contradictory elements — occupies a middle
place. The two sides of this unity are held in abstract inde-
pendence of each other, and their veritable union presented
only as a problem. We have, therefore, on the one side, pro-
digious confusion and limitation to the particular; barbarous
sensuality with African hardness, Zoolatry, and sensual enjoy-
ment. It is stated that, in a public market-place, sodomy was
committed by a woman with a goat. Juvenal relates that hu-
THE ORIENTAL WORLD
219
man flesh was eaten and human blood drunk out of revenge.
The other side is the struggle of Spirit for liberation — fancy
displayed in the forms created by art, together with the ab-
stract understanding shown in the mechanical labors connected
with their production. The same intelligence — the power of
altering the form of individual existences, and that steadfast
thoughtfulness which can rise above mere phenomena — shows
itself in their police and the mechanism of the State, in agri-
cultural economy, etc. ; and the contrast to this is the severity
with which their customs bind them, and the superstition to
which humanity among them is inexorably subject. With a
clear understanding of the present, is connected the highest
degree of impulsiveness, daring and turbulence. These feat-
ures are combined in the stories which Herodotus relates to
us of the Egyptians. They much resemble the tales of the
Thousand and One Nights; and although these have Bagdad
as the locality of their narration, their origin is no more limited
to this luxurious court, than to the Arabian people, but must
be partly traced to Egypt — as Von Hammer also thinks. The
Arabian world is quite other than the fanciful and enchanted
region there described ; it has much more simple passions and
interests. Love, Martial Daring, the Horse, the Sword, are the
darling subjects of the poetry peculiar to the Arabians.
Transition to the Greek World
The Egyptian Spirit has shown itself to us as in all respects
shut up within the limits of particular conceptions, and, as it
were, imbruted in them; but likewise stirring itself withir
these limits — passing restlessly from one particular form int
another. This Spirit never rises to the Universal and Higher,
for it seems to be blind to that ; nor does it ever withdraw into
itself: yet it symbolizes freely and boldly with particular ex-
istence, and has already mastered it. All that is now required
is to posit that particular existence — which contains the germ
of ideality — as ideal, and to comprehend Universality itself,
which is already potentially liberated from the particulars in-
volving it.* It is the free, joyful Spirit of Greece that accom-
plishes this, arM makes this its starting-point. An Egyptian
* Abstractions were to take the place but just fall short of the ability to com-
of analogies. The power to connect par- prehend the general idea which links
ticular conceptions as analogical, does them.— Ed.
*20 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
priest is reported to have said, that the Greeks remain eternally
children. We may say, on the contrary, that the Egyptians are
vigorous boys, eager for self-comprehension, who require noth-
ing but clear understanding of themselves in an ideal form, in
order to become Young Men. In the Oriental Spirit there re-
mains as a basis the massive substantiality of Spirit immersed
in Nature. To the Egyptian Spirit it has become impossible —
though it is still involved in infinite embarrassment — to remain
contented with that. The rugged African nature disintegrated
that primitive Unity, and lighted upon the problem whose solu-
tion is Free Spirit.
That the Spirit of the Egyptians presented itself to their con-
sciousness in the form of a problem, is evident from the cele-
brated inscription in the sanctuary of the Goddess Neith at
Sais : " / am that which is, that which ivas, and that which
will be; no one has lifted my veil." This inscription indicates
the principle of the Egyptian Spirit; though the opinion has
often been entertained, that its purport applies to all times.
Proclus supplies the addition : " The fruit which I have pro-
duced is Helios." That which is clear to itself is, therefore,
the result of, and the solution of, the problem in question. This
lucidity is Spirit — the Son of Neith the concealed night-loving
divinity. In the Egyptian Neith, Truth is still a problem. The
Greek Apollo is its solution ; his utterance is : " Man, know
thyself." In this dictum is not intended a self-recognition that
regards the specialities of one's own weaknesses and defects:
it is not the individual that is admonished to become acquainted
with his idiosyncrasy, but humanity in general is summoned to
self-knowledge. This mandate was given for the Greeks, and
in the Greek Spirit humanity exhibits itself in its clear and
developed condition. Wonderfully, then, must the Greek legend
surprise us, which relates, that the Sphinx — the great Egyptian
symbol — appeared in Thebes, uttering the words : " What is
that which in the morning goes on four legs, at midday on
two, and in the evening on three ? " CEdipus, giving the solu-
tion, Man, precipitated the Sphinx from the rock. The solution
and liberation of that Oriental Spirit, which in Egypt had ad-
anced so far as to propose the problem, is certainly this: that
the Inner Being [the Essence] of Nature is Thought, which
has its existence only in the human consciousness. But that
time'honored antique solution given by CEdipus — who thus
THE ORIENTAL WORLD 22 i
shows himself possessed of knowledge — is connected with a
dire ignorance of the character of his own actions. The rise
of spiritual illumination in the old royal house is disparaged
by connection with abominations, the result of ignorance ; and
that primeval royalty must — in order to attain true knowledge
and moral clearness — first be brought into shapely form, and
be harmonized with the Spirit of the Beautiful, by civil laws
and political freedom.
The inward or ideal transition, from Egypt to Greece is as
just exhibited. But Egypt became a province of the great
Persian kingdom, and the historical transition takes place when
the Persian world comes in contact with the Greek. Here, for
the first time, an historical transition meets us, viz. in the fall
of an empire. China and India, as already mentioned, have
remained — Persia has not. The transition to Greece is, in-
deed, internal; but here it shows itself also externally, as a
transmission of sovereignty — an occurrence which from this-
time forward is ever and anon repeated. For the Greeks sur-
render the sceptre of dominion and of civilization to the Ro-
mans, and the Romans are subdued by the Germans. If we
examine this fact of transition more closely, the question sug-
gests itself — for example, in this first case of the kind, viz-
Persia — why it sank, while China and India remain. In the
first place we must here banish from our minds the prejudice
in favor of duration, as if it had any advantage as compared
with transience: the imperishable mountains are not superior
to the quickly dismantled rose exhaling its life in fragrance. In
Persia begins the principle of Free Spirit as contrasted with
imprisonment in Nature; mere natural existence, therefore,
loses its bloom, and fades away. The principle of separation
from Nature is found in the Persian Empire, which, therefore,
occupies a higher grade than those worlds immersed in the
Natural. The necessity of advance has been thereby pro-
claimed. Spirit has disclosed its existence, and must com-
plete its development. It is only when dead that the Chinese
is held in reverence. The Hindoo kills himself — becomes ab-
sorbed in Brahm — undergoes a living death in the condition
of perfect unconsciousness — or is a present god in virtue of
his birth. Here we have no change ; no advance is admissible,
for progress is only possible through the recognition of the
independence of Spirit. With the " Light " of the Persians
222 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
begins a spiritual view of things, and here Spirit bids adieu
to Nature. It is here, then, that we first find (as occasion called
us to notice above) that the objective world remains free —
that the nations are not enslaved, but are left in possession of
their wealth, their political constitution, and their religion. And,
indeed, this is the side on which Persia itself shows weakness
as compared with Greece. For we see that the Persians could
erect no empire possessing complete organization; that they
could not " inform " the conquered lands with their principle,
and were unable to make them into a harmonious Whole, but
were obliged to be content with an aggregate of the most di-
verse individualities. Among these nations the Persians se-
cured no inward recognition of the legitimacy of their rule;
they could not establish their legal principles of enactments,
and in organizing their dominion, they only considered them-
selves, not the whole extent of their empire. Thus, as Persia
did not constitute, politically, one Spirit, it appeared weak in
contrast with Greece. It was not the effeminacy of the Per-
sians (although, perhaps, Babylon infused an enervating ele-
ment) that ruined them, but the unwieldy, unorganized char-
acter of their host, as matched against Greek organization ; i.e.,
the superior principle overcame the inferior. The abstract
principle of the Persians displayed its defectiveness as an un-
organized, incompacted union of disparate contradictories; in
which the Persian doctrine of Light stood side by side with
Syrian voluptuousness and luxury, with the activity and cour-
age of the sea-braving Phoenicians, the abstraction of pure
Thought in the Jewish Religion, and the mental unrest of
Egypt ; — an aggregate of elements, which awaited their idealiz-
ation, and could receive it only in free Individuality. The
Greeks must be looked upon as the people in whom these ele-
ments interpenetrated each other: Spirit became introspective,
triumphed over particularity, and thereby emancipated itself.
PART II
THE GREEK WORLD
AMONG the Greeks we * ee l ourselves immediately at
home, for we are in the region of Spirit ; and though
the origin of the nation, as also its philological pecu-
liarities, may be traced farther — even to India — the proper
Emergence, the true Palingenesis of Spirit must be looked for
in Greece first. At an earlier stage I compared the Greek
world with the period of adolescence ; not, indeed, in that sense,
that youth bears within it a serious, anticipative destiny, and
consequently by the very conditions of its culture urges towards
an ulterior aim — presenting thus an inherently incomplete and
immature form, and being then most defective when it would
deem itself perfect — but in that sense, that youth does not yet
present the activity of work, does not yet exert itself for a
definite intelligent aim — but rather exhibits a concrete fresh-
ness of the soul's life. It appears in the sensuous, actual world,
as Incarnate Spirit and Spiritualized Sense — in a Unity which
owed its origin to Spirit. Greece presents to us the cheerful
aspect of youthful freshness, of Spiritual vitality. It is here
first that advancing Spirit makes itself the content of its voli-
tion and its knowledge ; but in such a way that State, Family,
Law, Religion, are at the same time objects aimed at by indi-
viduality, while the latter is individuality only in virtue of
those aims. The [full-grown] man, on the other hand, devotes
his life to labor for an objective aim; which he pursues con-
sistently, even at the cost of his individuality.
The highest form that floated before Greek imagination was
Achilles, the Son of the Poet, the Homeric Youth of the Trojan
War. Homer is the element in which the Greek world lives,
as man does in the air. The Greek life is a truly youthful
achievement. Achilles, the ideal youth, of poetry, commenced
it: Alexander the Great, the ideal youth of reality, concluded
223
224 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
it. Both appear in contest with Asia. Achilles, as the principal
figure in the national expedition of the Greeks against Troy,
does not stand at its head, but is subject to the Chief of Chiefs ;
he cannot be made the leader without becoming a fantastic un-
tenable conception. On the contrary, the second youth, Alex-
ander — the freest and finest individuality that the real world
has ever produced — advances to the head of this youthful life
that has now perfected itself, and accomplishes the revenge
against Asia.
We have, then, to distinguish three periods in Greek history :
the first, that of the growth of real Individuality ; the second,
that of its independence and prosperity in external conquest
(through contact with the previous World-historical people) ;
and the third, the period of its decline and fall, in its encounter
with the succeeding organ of World-History. The period from
its origin to its internal completeness (that which enables a
people to make head against its predecessor) includes its pri-
mary culture. If the nation has a basis — such as the Greek
world has in the Oriental — a foreign culture enters as an ele-
ment into its primary condition, and it has a double culture,
one orignal, the other of foreign suggestion. The uniting of
these two elements constitutes its training ; and the first period
ends with the combination of its forces to produce its real and
proper vigor, which then turns against the very element that
had been its basis. The second period is that of victory and
prosperity. But while the nation directs its energies outwards,
it becomes unfaithful to its principles at home, and internal
dissension follows upon the ceasing of the external excitement.
In Art and Science, too, this shows itself in the separation of
the Ideal from the Real. Here is the point of decline. The
third period is that of ruin, through contact with the nation
that embodies a higher Spirit. The same process, it may be
stated once for all, will meet us in the life of every world -
historical people.
SECTION 1
THE ELEMENTS OF THE GREEK SPIRIT
GREECE is [that form of] the Substantial [i.e. of Moral
and Intellectual Principle], which is a't the same time
individual. The Universal [the Abstract], as such, is
overcome ; * the submersion in Nature no longer exists, and
consentaneously the unwieldy character of geographical rela-
tions has also vanished. The country now under consideration
is a section of territory spreading itself in various forms
through the sea — a multitude of islands, and a continent which
itself exhibits insular features. The Peloponnesus is connected
with the continent only by a narrow isthmus: the whole of
Greece is indented by bays in numberless shapes. The partition
into small divisions of territory is the universal characteristic,
while at the same time, the relationship and connection between
them is facilitated by the sea. We find here mountains, plains,
valleys, and streams of limited extent : no great river, no abso-
lute Valley-Plain presents itself ; but the ground is diversified
by mountains and rivers in such a way as to allow no promi-
nence to a single massive feature. We see no such display of
physical grandeur as is exhibited in the East — no stream such
as the Ganges, the Indus, etc., on whose plains a race delivered
over to monotony is stimulated to no change, be^.use its hori-
zon always exhibits one unvarying form. O 'v contrary, that
divided and multiform character everywhere prevails which
perfectly corresponds with the varied life of Greek races and
the versatility of the Greek Spirit.
This is the elementary character of the Spirit of the Greeks,
implying the origination of their culture from independent in-
dividualities ; — a condition in which individuals take their own
ground, and are not, from the very beginning, patriarchally
united by a bond of Nature, but realize a union through some
* That is, blind obedience to moral re- personal conviction or inclination, as
quirements— to principle abstracted from among the Chinese. — Ed.
22S
226 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
other medium — through Law and Custom having the sanction
of Spirit. For beyond all other nations that of Greece attained
its form by growth. At the origin of their national unity, sepa-
ration as a generic feature — inherent distinctness of character
— is the chief point that has to be considered. The first phase
in the subjugation of this, constitutes the primary period of
Greek culture ; and only through such distinctness of character,
and such a subjugation of it, was the beautiful free Greek
Spirit produced. Of this principle we must have a clear con-
ception. It is a superficial and absurd idea that such a beautiful
and truly free life can be produced by a process so incomplex
as the development of a race keeping within the limits of blood-
relationship and friendship. Even the plant, which supplies
the nearest analogy to such a calm, homogeneous unfolding,
lives and grows only by means of the antithetic activities of
light, air, and water. The only real antithesis that Spirit can
have, is itself spiritual : viz., its inherent heterogeneity, through
which alone it acquires the power of realizing itself as Spirit.
The history of Greece exhibits at its commencement this inter-
change and mixture of partly homesprung, partly quite foreign
stocks ; and it was Attica itself — whose people was destined to
attain the acme of Hellenic bloom — that was the asylum of the
most various stocks and families. Every world-historical peo-
ple, except the Asiatic kingdoms — which stands detached from
the grand historical catena — has been formed in this way. Thus
the Greeks, like the Romans, developed themselves from a
colluvies — a conflux of the most various nations. Of the multi-
tude of tribes which we meet in Greece, we cannot say which
was the original Greek people, and which immigrated from for-
eign lands and distant parts of the globe; for the period of
which we speak belongs entirely to the unhistorical and obscure.
The Pelasgi were at that time a principal race in Greece. The
most various attempts have been made by the learned to har-
monize the confused and contradictory account which we have
respecting them — a hazy and obscure period being a special
object and stimulus to erudition. Remarkable as the earliest
centres of incipient culture are Thrace, the native land of Or-
pheus — and Thessaly ; countries which at a later date retreated
more or less into the background. From Phthiotis, the country
of Achilles, proceeds the common name Hellenes — a name
which, as Thucydides remarks, presents itself as little in Homer
THE GREEK WORLD 227
in this comprehensive sense, as the term Barbarians, from
whom the Greeks were not yet clearly distinguished. It must
be left to special history to trace the several tribes, and their
transformations. In general we may assume, that the tribes
and individuals were prone to leave their country when too
great a population occupied it, and that consequently these
tribes were in a migratory condition, and practised mutual
depredation. " Even now," says the discerning Thucydides,
" the Ozolian Locrians, the ZEtolians, and Acarnanians retain
their ancient mode of life; the custom of carrying weapons,
too, has maintained itself among them as a relic of their ancient
predatory habits." Respecting the Athenians, he says, that
they were the first who laid aside arms in time of peace. In
such a state of things agriculture was not pursued ; the inhabi-
tants had not only to defend themselves against freebooters,
but also to contend with wild beasts (even in Herodotus's time
many lions infested the banks of the Nestus and Achelous) ;
at a later time tame cattle became especially an object of plun-
der, and even after agriculture had become more general, men
were still entrapped and sold for slaves. In depicting this orig-
inal condition of Greece, Thucydides goes still further into
detail.
Greece, then, was in this state of turbulence, insecurity, and
rapine, and its tribes were continually migrating.
The other element in which the national life of the Hellenes
was versed, was the Sea. The physique of their country led
them to this amphibious existence, and allowed them to skim
freely over the waves, as they spread themselves freely over
the land — not roving about like the nomad populations, nor
torpidly vegetating like those of the river districts. Piracy,
not trade, was the chief object of maritime occupations : and,
as we gather from Homer, it was not yet reckoned discreditable.
The suppression of piracy is ascribed to Minos, and Crete is
renowned as the land where security was first enjoyed; for
there the state of things which we meet with again in Sparta
was early realized, viz., the establishment in power of one
party, and the subjugation of the other, which was compelled
to obey and work for the former.
We have just spoken of heterogeneity as an element of the
Greek Spirit, and it is well known that the rudiments of Greek
civilization are connected with the advent of foreigners. This
Vol. 23 K— Classics
228 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
origin of their moral life the Greeks have preserved, with grate-
ful recollection, in a form of recognition which we may call
mythological. In their mythology we have a definite record
of the introduction of agriculture by Triptolemus, who was
instructed by Ceres, and of the institution of marriage, etc.
Prometheus, whose origin is referred to the distant Caucasus,
is celebrated as having first taught men the production and
the use of fire. The introduction of iron was likewise of great
importance to the Greeks; and while Homer speaks only of
bronze, iEschylus calls iron " Scythian." The introduction of
the olive, of the art of spinning and weaving, and the creation
of the horse by Poseidon, belong to the same category.
More historical than these rudiments of culture is the alleged
arrival of foreigners; tradition tells us how the various states
were founded by such foreigners. Thus, Athens owes its
origin to Cecrops, an Egyptian, whose history, however, is in-
volved in obscurity. The race of Deucalion, the son of Pro-
metheus, is brought into connection with the various Greek
tribes. Pelops of Phrygia, the son of Tantalus, is also men-
tioned; next, Danaus, from Egypt: from him descend Acris-
ius, Danse, and Perseus. Pelops is said to have brought great
wealth with him to the Peloponnesus, and to have acquired
great respect and power there. Danaus settled in Argos.
Especially important is the arrival of Cadmus, of Phoenician
origin, with whom phonetic writing is said to have been intro-
duced into Greece; Herodotus refers it to Phoenicia, and an-
cient inscriptions then extant are cited to support the assertion.
Cadmus, according to the legend, founded Thebes.
We thus observe a colonization by civilized peoples, who
were in advance of the Greeks in point of culture : though we
cannot compare this colonization with that of the English in
North America, for the latter have not been blended with the
aborigines, but have dispossessed them ; whereas in the case
of the settlers in Greece the adventitious and autochthonic ele-
ments were mixed together. The date assigned to the arrival
of these colonists is very remote — the fourteenth and fifteenth
century before Christ. Cadmus is said to have founded Thebes
about 1490 B.C. — a date with which the Exodus of Moses from
Egypt (1500 B.C.) nearly coincides. Amphictyon is also men-
tioned among the Founders of Greek institutions; he is said
to have established at Thermopylae a union between many small
THE GREEK WORL©
229
tribes of Hellas proper and Thessaly — a combination with
which the great Amphictyonic league is said to have originated.
These foreigners, then, are reputed to have established fixed
centres in Greece by the erection of fortresses and the founding
of royal houses. In Argolis, the walls of which the ancient
fortresses consisted, were called Cyclopian ; some of them have
been discovered even in recent times, since, on account of their
solidity 4 they are indestructible.
These walls consist partly of irregular blocks, whose in-
terstices are filled up with small stones — partly of masses of
stones carefully fitted into each other. Such walls are those
of Tiryns and Mycenae. Even now the gate with the lions,
at Mycenae, can be recognized by the description of Pausanias.
It is stated of Prcetus, who ruled in Argos, that he brought
with him from Lycia the Cyclopes who built these walls. It
is, however, supposed that they were erected by the ancient
Pelasgi. To the fortresses protected by such walls the princes
of the heroic times generally attached their dwellings. Espe-
cially remarkable are the Treasure-houses built by them, such
as the Treasure-house of Minyas at Orchomenus, and that of
Atreus at Mycense. These fortresses, then, were the nuclei of
small states ; they gave a greater security to agriculture ; they
protected commercial intercourse against robbery. They were,
however, as Thucydides informs us, not placed in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the sea, on account of piracy; maritime towns
being of later date. Thus with those royal abodes originated
the firm establishment of society. The relation of princes to
subjects, and to each other, we learn best from Homer. It did
not depend on a state of things established by law, but on
superiority in riches, possessions, martial accoutrements, per-
sonal bravery, pre-eminence in insight and wisdom, and lastly,
on descent and ancestry; for the princes, as heroes, were re-
garded as of a higher race. Their subjects obeyed them, not
as distinguished from them by conditions of Caste, nor as in
a state of serfdom, nor in the patriarchal relation — according
to which the chief is only the head of the tribe or family to
which all belong — nor yet as the result of the express necessity
for a constitutional government ; but only from the need, uni-
versally felt, of being held together, and of obeying a ruler
accustomed to command — without envy and ill-will towards
him. The Prince has just so much personal authority as he
8 3 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
possesses the ability to acquire and to assert; but as this
superiority is only the individually heroic, resting on personal
merit, it does not continue long. Thus in Homer we see the
suitors of Penelope taking possession of the property of the
absent Ulysses, without showing the slightest respect to his
son. Achilles, in his inquiries about his father, when Ulysses
descends to Hades, indicates the supposition that, as he is old,
he will be no longer honored. Manners are still very simple:
princes prepare their own repasts; and Ulysses labors at the
construction of his own house. In Homer's Iliad we find a
King of Kings, a generalissimo in the great national undertak-
ing — but the other magnates environ him as a freely deliberat-
ing council ; the prince is honored, but he is obliged to arrange
everything to the satisfaction of the others ; he indulges in vio-
lent conduct towards Achilles, but, in revenge, the latter with-
draws from the struggle. Equally lax is the relation of the
several chiefs to the people at large, among whom there are
always individuals who claim attention and respect. The vari-
ous peoples do not fight as mercenaries of the prince in his
battles, nor as a stupid serf-like herd driven to the contest, nor
yet in their own interest ; but as the companions of their hon-
ored chieftain — as witnesses of his exploits, and his defenders
in peril. A perfect resemblance to these relations is also pre-
sented in the Greek Pantheon. Zeus is the Father of the Gods,
but each one of them has his own will ; Zeus respects them,
and they him : he may sometimes scold and threaten them, and
they then allow his will to prevail or retreat grumbling; but
they do not permit matters to come to an extremity, and Zeus
so arranges matters on the whole — by making this concession
to one, that to another — as to produce satisfaction. In the
terrestrial, as well as in the Olympian world, there is, therefore,
only a lax bond of unity maintained ; royalty has not yet become
monarchy, for it is only in a more extensive society that the
need of the latter is felt.
While this state of things prevailed, and social relations were
such as have been described, that striking and great event took
place — the union of the whole of Greece in a national under-
taking, viz., the Trojan War; with which began that more ex-
tensive connection with Asia which had very important results
for the Greeks. (The expedition of Jason to Colchis — also
mentioned by the poets — and which bears an earlier date, was,
THE GREEK WORLD » 23 x
as compared with the war of Troy, a very limited and isolated
undertaking.) The occasion of that united expedition is said
to have been the violation of the laws of hospitality by the son
of an Asiatic prince, in carrying off the wife of his host. Aga-
memnon assembles the princes of Greece through the power
and influence which he possesses. Thucydides ascribes his
authority to his hereditary sovereignty, combined with naval
power (Horn. II. ii. 108), in which he was far superior to
the rest. It appears, however, that the combination was ef-
fected without external compulsion, and that the whole arma-
ment was convened simply on the strength of individual con-
sent. The Hellenes were then brought to act unitedly, to an
extent of which there is no subsequent example. The result
of their exertions was the conquest and destruction of Troy,
though they had no design of making it a permanent possession.
No external result, therefore, in the way of settlement ensued,
any more than an enduring political union, as the effect of the
uniting of the nation in the accomplishment of this single
achievement. But the poet supplied an imperishable portraiture
of their youth and of their national spirit, to the imagination of
the Greek people; and the picture of this beautiful human
heroism hovered as a directing ideal before their whole devel-
opment and culture. So likewise, in the Middle Ages, we see
the whole of Christendom united to attain one object — the
conquest of the Holy Sepulchre; but, in spite of all the vic-
tories achieved, with just as little permanent result. The Cru-
sades are the Trojan War of newly awakened Christendom,
waged against the simple, homogeneous clearness of Mahome-
tanism.
The royal houses perished, partly as the consequence of par-
ticular atrocities, partly through gradual extinction. There
was no strictly moral bond connecting them with the tribes
which they governed. The same relative position is occupied
by the people and the royal houses in the Greek Tragedy also.
The people is the Chorus — passive, deedless: the heroes per-
form the deeds, and incur the consequent responsibility. There
is nothing in common between them; the people have no di-
recting power, but only appeal to the gods. Such heroic per-
sonalities as those of the princes in question, are so remarkably
suited for subjects of dramatic art on this very account — that
they form their resolutions independently and individually, and
232 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
are not guided by universal laws binding on every citizen;
their conduct and their ruin are individual. The people appears
separated from the royal houses, and these are regarded as an
alien body — a higher race, righting out the battles and under-
going the penalties of their fate, for themselves alone. Roy-
alty having performed that which it had to perform, thereby
rendered itself superfluous. The several dynasties are the
agents of their own destruction, or perish not as the result of
animosity, or of struggles on the side of the people: rather
the families of the sovereigns are left in calm enjoyment of
their power — a proof that the democratic government which
followed is not regarded as something absolutely diverse. How
sharply do the annals of other times contrast with this!
This fall of the royal houses occurs after the Trojan war, and
many changes now present themselves. The Peloponnesus
was conquered by the Heraclidas, who introduced a calmer state
of things, which was not again interrupted by the incessant
migrations of races. The history now becomes more obscure ;
and though the several occurrences of the Trojan war are very
circumstantially described to us, we are uncertain respecting
the important transactions of the time immediately following,
for a space of many centuries. No united undertaking distin-
guishes them, unless we regard as such that of which Thucydides
speaks, viz., the war between the Chalcidians and Eretrians in
Euboea, in which many nations took part. The towns vegetate
in isolation, or at most distinguish themselves by war with their
neighbors. Yet, they enjoy prosperity in this isolated condi-
tion, by means of trade ; a kind of progress to which their being
rent by many party-struggles offers no opposition. In the
same way, we observe in the Middle Ages the towns of Italy—
which, both internally and externally, were engaged in con-
tinual struggle — attaining so high a degree of prosperity. The
flourishing state of the Greek towns at that time is proved,
according to Thucydides, also by the colonies sent out in every
direction. Thus, Athens colonized Ionia and several islands ;
and colonies from the Peloponnesus settled in Italy and Sicily.
Colonies, on the other hand, became relatively mother states ;
e.g. Miletus, which founded many cities on the Propontis and
the Black Sea. This sending out of colonies — especially during
the period between the Trojan war and Cyrus — presents us with
a remarkable phenomenon. It can be thus explained. In the
THE GREEK WORLD
233
several towns the people had the governmental power in their
hands, since they gave the final decision in political affairs. In
consequence of the long repose enjoyed by them, the population
and the development of the community advanced rapidly ; and
the immediate result was the amassing of great riches-, contem-
poraneously with which fact great want and poverty make their
appearance. Industry, in our sense, did not exist; and the
lands were soon occupied. Nevertheless a part of the poorer
classes would not submit to the degradations of poverty, for
everyone felt himself a free citizen. The only expedient, there-
fore, that remained, was colonization. In another country,
those who suffered distress in their own, might seek a free soil,
and gain a living as free citizens by its cultivation. Colonization
thus became a means of maintaining some degree of equality
among the citizens ; but this means is only a palliative, and the
original inequality, founded on the difference of property, im-
mediately reappears. The old passions were rekindled with
fresh violence, and riches were soon made use of for securing
power : thus " Tyrants " gained ascendancy in the cities of
Greece. Thucydides says, " When Greece increased in riches,
Tyrants arose in the cities, and the Greeks devoted themselves
more zealously to the sea." At the time of Cyrus, the History
of Greece acquires its peculiar interest ; we see the various states
now displaying their particular character. This is the date,
too, of the formation of the distinct Greek Spirit. Religion and
political institutions are developed with it, and it is these im-
portant phases of national life which must now occupy our
attention.
In tracing up the rudiments of Greek culture, we first recall
attention to the fact that the physical condition of the country
does not exhibit such a characteristic unity, such a uniform
mass, as to exercise a powerful influence over the inhabitants.
On the contrary, it is diversified, and produces no decided im-
pression. Nor have we here the unwieldy unity of a family
or national combination ; but, in the presence of scenery and
displays of elemental power broken up into fragmentary forms,
men's attention is more largely directed to themselves, and to
the extension of their immature capabilities. Thus we see the
Greeks — divided and separated from each other — thrown back
upon their inner spirit and personal energy, yet at the same
time most variously excited and cautiously circumspect. We
234
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
behold them quite undetermined and irresolute in the presence
of Nature, dependent on its contingencies, and listening anx-
iously to each signal from the external world; but, on the
other hand, intelligently taking cognizance of and appropriat-
ing that outward existence, and showing boldness and inde-
pendent vigor in contending with it. These are the simple
elements of their culture and religion. In tracing up their mytho-
logical conceptions, we find natural objects forming the basis
— not en masse, however ; only in dissevered forms. The Diana
of Ephesus (that is, Nature as the universal Mother), the Cyb-
ele and Astarte of Syria — such comprehensive conceptions re-
mained Asiatic, and were not transmitted to Greece. For the
Greeks only watch the objects of Nature, and form surmises
respecting them ; inquiring, in the depth of their souls, for the
hidden meaning. According to Aristotle's dictum, that Philos-
ophy proceeds from Wonder, the Greek view of Nature also
proceeds from wonder of this kind. Not that in their experi-
ence, Spirit meets something extraordinary, which it compares
with the common order of things ; for the intelligent view of a
regular course of Nature, and the reference of phenomena to
that standard, do not yet present themselves; but the Greek
Spirit was excited to wonder at the Natural in Nature. It does
not maintain the position of stupid indifference to it as some-
thing existing, and there an end of it ; but regards it as some-
thing in the first instance foreign, in which, however, it has a
presentiment of confidence, and the belief that it bears some-
thing within it which is friendly to the human Spirit, and to
which it may be permitted to sustain a positive relation. This
Wonder, and this Presentiment, are here the fundamental cate-
gories ; though the Hellenes did not content themselves with
these moods of feelings, but projected the hidden meaning,
which was the subject of the surmise, into a distinct conception
as an object of consciousness. The Natural holds its place in
their minds only after undergoing some transformation by
Spirit — not immediately. Man regards Nature only as an ex-
citement to his faculties, and only the Spiritual which he has
evolved from it can have any influence over him. Nor is this
commencement of the Spiritual apprehension of Nature to be
regarded as an explanation suggested by us; it meets us in a
multitude of conceptions formed by the Greeks themselves.
The position of curious surmise, of attentive eagerness to catch
THE GREEK WORLD 235
the meaning of Nature, is indicated to us in the comprehensive
idea of Pan. To the Greeks Pan did not represent the objective
Whole, but that indefinite neutral ground which involves the
element of the subjective; he embodies that thrill which per-
vades us in the silence of the forests ; he was, therefore, espe-
cially worshipped in sylvan Arcadia : (a " panic terror " is the
common expression for a groundless fright). Pan, this thrill-
exciting being, is also represented as playing on the flute ; we
have not the bare internal presentiment, for Pan makes himself
audible on the seven-reeded pipe. In what has been stated we
have, on the one hand, the Indefinite, which, however, holds
communication with man ; on the other hand the fact, that such
communication is only a subjective imagining — an explana-
tion furnished by the percipient himself. On the same principle
the Greeks listened to the murmuring of the fountains, and
asked what might be thereby signified; but the signification
which they were led to attach to it was not the objective mean-
ing of the fountain, but the subjective — that of the subject itself,
which further exalts the Naiad to a Muse. The Naiads, or
Fountains, are the external, objective origin of the Muses. Yet
the immortal songs of the Muses are not that which is heard in
the murmuring of the fountains ; they are the productions of
the thoughtfully listening Spirit — creative while observant. The
interpretation and explanation of Nature and its transforma-
tions — the indication of their sense and import — is the act of
the subjective Spirit ; and to this the Greeks attached the name
fiavTCLa. The general idea which this embodies, is the form in
which man realizes his relationship to Nature. Mavreia has
reference both to the matter of the exposition and to the ex-
pounder who divines the weighty import in question. Plato
speaks of it in reference to dreams, and to that delirium into
which men fall during sickness ; an interpreter, (iavTi%is wanted
to explain these dreams and this delirium. That Nature an-
swered the questions which the Greek put to her, is in this con-
verse sense true, that he obtained an answer to the questions
of Nature from his own Spirit. The insight of the Seer becomes
thereby purely poetical ; Spirit supplies the signification which
the natural image expresses. Everywhere the Greeks desired
a clear presentation and interpretation of the Natural. Homer
tells us, in the last book of the Odyssey, that while the Greeks
were overwhelmed with sorrow for Achilles, a violent agitation
236 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
came over the sea : the Greeks were on the point of dispersing
in terror, when the experienced Nestor arose and interpreted
the phenomenon to them. Thetis, he said, was coming, with
her nymphs, to lament for the death of her son. When a
pestilence broke out in the camp of the Greeks, the Priest
Calchas explained that Apollo was incensed at their not having
restored the daughter of his priest Chryses when a ransom had
been offered. The Oracle was originally interpreted exactly
in this way. The oldest Oracle was at Dodona (in the district
of the modern Janina). Herodotus says that the first priestesses
of the temple there, were from Egypt ; yet this temple is stated
to be an ancient Greek one. The rustling of the leaves of the
sacred oaks was the form of prognostication there. Bowls of
metal were also suspended in the grove. But the sounds of
the bowls dashing against each other were quite indefinite, and
had no objective sense ; the sense — the signification — was im-
parted to the sounds only by the human beings who heard them.
Thus also the Delphic priestesses, in a senseless, distracted
state — in the intoxication of enthusiasm (jiavia) — uttered unin-
telligible sounds ; and it was the /juavra who gave to these utter-
ances a definite meaning. In the cave of Trophonius the noise
of subterranean waters was heard, and apparitions were seen :
but these indefinite phenomena acquired a meaning only
through the interpreting, comprehending Spirit. It must also
be observed, that these excitements of Spirit are in the first in-
stance external, natural impulses. Succeeding them are internal
changes taking place in the human being himself — such as
dreams, or the delirium of the Delphic priestess — which require
to be made intelligible by the jicLvtis. At the commencement of
the Iliad, Achilles is excited against Agamemnon, and is on the
point of drawing his sword ; but on a sudden he checks the
movement of his arm, and recollects himself in his wrath, reflect-
ing on his relation to Agamemnon. The Poet explains this by
saying that it was Pallas-Athene (Wisdom or Consideration)
that restrained him. When Ulysses among the Phseacians has
thrown his discus farther than the rest, and one of the Phseacians
shows a friendly disposition towards him, the Poet recognizes
in him Pallas-Athene. Such an explanation denotes the percep-
tion of the inner meaning, the sense, the underlying truth; and
the poets were in this way the teachers of the Greeks — especially
Homer. Mavreia in fact is Poesy — not a capricious indul-
THE GREEK WORLD
237
gence of fancy, but an imagination which introduces the Spirit-
ual into the Natural — in short a richly intelligent perception.
The Greek Spirit, on the whole, therefore, is free from supersti-
tion, since it changes the sensuous into the sensible — the Intel-
lectual — so that [oracular] decisions are derived from Spirit;
although superstition comes in again from another quarter, as
will be observed when impulsions from another source than the ■
Spiritual, are allowed to tell upon opinion and action.
But the stimuli that operated on the Spirit of the Greeks are
not to be limited to these objective and subjective incitements.
The traditional element derived from foreign countries, the cul-
ture, the divinities and ritual observances transmitted to them
ab extra must also be included. It has been long a much vexed
question whether the arts and the religion of the Greeks were
developed independently or through foreign icrge^' ''on. Un-
der the conduct of a one-sided understandi: j the controversy
is interminable ; for it is no less a fact of history th°t + he Greeks
derived conceptions from India, Syria, and Egypt, han that
the Greek conceptions are peculiar to themselves, and those
others alien. Herodotus (II. 53) asserts, wi + h equal decision,
that " Homer and Hesiod invented a Theogony for the Greeks,
and assigned to the gods their appropriate epithets " (a most
weighty sentence, which has been the subject of deep investiga-
tion, especially by Creuzer) — and, in another place, that Greece
took the names of its divinities from Egypt, and that the Greeks
made inquiry at Dodona, whether they ought to adopt these
names or not. This appears self-contradictory : it is, however,
quite consistent; for the fact is that the Greeks evolved the
Spiritual from the materials which they had received. The
Natural, as explained by man — i.e. its internal essential element
— is, as a universal principle, the beginning of the Divine. Just
as in Art the Greeks may have acquired a mastery of technical
matters from others — from the Egyptians especially — so in
their religion the commencement might have been from with-
out ; but by their independent spirit they transformed the one
as well as the other.
Traces of such foreign rudiments may be generally discov-
ered (Creuzer, in his " Symbolik," dwells especially on this
point). The amours of Zeus appear indeed as something iso-
lated, extraneous, adventitious, but it may be shown that foreign
theogonic representations form their basis. Hercules is, among
238 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the Hellenes, that Spiritual Humanity which by native energy
attains Olympus through the twelve far-famed labors : but the
foreign idea that lies at the basis is the Sun, completing its
revolution through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The Mys-
teries were only such ancient rudiments, and certainly con-
tained no greater wisdom than already existed in the conscious-
ness of the Greeks. All Athenians were initiated in the
mysteries — Socrates excepted, who refused initiation, because
he knew well that science and art are not the product of mys-
teries, and that Wisdom never lies among arcana. True science
has its place much rather in the open field of consciousness.
In summing up the constituents of the Greek Spirit, we find
its fundamental characteristic to be, that the freedom of Spirit
is conditioned by and has an essential relation to some stimulus
supplied by Nature. Greek freedom of thought is excited by
an alien existence; but it is free because it transforms and
virtually reproduces the stimulus by its own operation. This
phase of Spirit is the medium between the loss of individuality
on the part of man (such as we observe in the Asiatic principle,
in which the Spiritual and Divine exists only under a Natural
form), and Infinite Subjectivity as pure certainty of itself — the
position that the Ego is the ground of all that can lay claim to
substantial existence. The Greek Spirit as the medium between
these two, begins with Nature, but transforms it into a mere
objective form of its (Spirit's) own existence ; Spirituality is
therefore not yet absolutely free ; not yet absolutely self ^pro-
duced — is not self-stimulation. Setting out from surmise and
wonder, the Greek Spirit advances to definite conceptions of
the hidden meanings of Nature. In the subject itself too, the
same harmony is produced. In Man, the side of his subjective
existence which he owes to Nature, is the Heart, the Disposi-
tion, Passion, and Variety of Temperament : this side is then
developed in a spiritual direction to free Individuality ; so that
the character is not placed in a relation to universally valid
moral authorities, assuming the form of duties, but the Moral
appears as a nature peculiar to the individual — an exertion of
will, the result of disposition and individual constitution. This
stamps the Greek character as that of Individuality conditioned
by Beauty, which is produced by Spirit, transforming the merely
Natural into an expression of its own being. The activity of
Spirit does not yet possess in itself the material and organ of
THE GREEK WORLD
2 39
expression, but needs the excitement of Nature and the matter
which Nature supplies : it is not free, self-determining Spiritu-
ality, but mere naturalness formed to Spirituality — Spiritual
Individuality. The Greek Spirit is the plastic artist, forming
the stone into a work of art. In this formative process the stone
does not remain mere stone — the form being only superin-
duced from without ; but it is made an expression of the Spirit-
ual, even contrary to its nature, and thus transformed. Con-
versely, the artist needs for his spiritual conceptions, stone,
colors, sensuous forms to express his idea. Without such an
element he can no more be conscious of the idea himself, than
give it an objective form for the contemplation of others ; since
it cannot in Thought alone become an object to him. The
Egyptian Spirit also was a similar laborer in Matter, but the
Natural had not yet been subjected to the Spiritual, No ad-
vance was made beyond a struggle and contest with it; the
Natural still took an independent position, and formed one side
of the image, as in the body of the Sphinx. In Greek Beauty
the Sensuous is only a sign, an expression, an envelope, in which •
Spirit manifests itself.
It must be added, that while the Greek Spirit is a transform-
ing artist of this kind, it knows itself free in its productions ;
for it is their creator, and they are what is called the " work of
man." They are, however, not merely this, but Eternal Truth
— the energizing of Spirit in its innate essence, and quite as
really not created as created by man. He has a respect and
veneration for these conceptions and images — this Olympian
Zeus — this Pallas of the Acropolis — and in the same way for the
laws, political and ethical, that guide his actions. But He, the
human being, is the womb that conceived them, he the breast
that suckled them, he the Spiritual to which their grandeur
and purity are owing. Thus he feels himself calm in contem-
plating them, and not only free in himself, but possessing the
consciousness of his freedom ; thus the honor of the Human is
swallowed up in the worship of the Divine. Men honor the
Divine in and for itself, but at the same time as their deed, their
production, their phenomenal existence; thus the Divine re-
ceives its honor through the respect paid to the Human, and
the Human in virtue of the honor paid to the Divine.
Such are the qualities of that Beautiful Individuality, which
constitutes the centre of the Greek character. We must now
240
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
consider the several radiations wnich this idea throws out in
realizing itself. All issue in works of art, and we may arrange
under three heads : the subjective work of art, that is, the cul-
ture of the man himself; — the objective work of art, i.e., the
shaping of the world of divinities ; — lastly, the political work of
art — the form of the Constitution, and the relations of the In-
dividuals who compose it, ,
SECTION II
PHASES OF INDIVIDUALITY ^STHETICALLY
CONDITIONED
Chapter I. — The Subjective Work of Art
AN with his necessities sustains a practical relation to
external Nature, and in making it satisfy his desires,
and thus using it up, has recourse to a system of means.
For natural objects are powerful, and offer resistance in various
ways. In order to subdue them, man introduces other natural
agents ; thus turns Nature against itself, and invents instruments
for this purpose. These human inventions belong to Spirit,
and such an instrument is to be respected more than a mere
natural object. We see, too, that the Greeks are accustomed
to set an especial value upon them, for in Homer, man's delight
in them appears in a very striking way. In the notice of
Agamemnon's sceptre, its origin is given in detail : mention is
made of doors which turn on hinges, and of accoutrements and
furniture, in a way that expresses satisfaction. The honor of
human invention in subjugating Nature is ascribed to the gods.
But, on the other hand, man uses Nature for ornament, which
is intended only as a token of wealth and of that which man
has made of himself. We find Ornament, in this interest, al-
ready very much developed among the Homeric Greeks. It is
true that both barbarians and civilized nations ornament them-
selves ; but barbarians content themselves with mere ornament ;
— they intend their persons to please by an external addition.
But ornament by its very nature is destined only to beautify
something other than itself, viz. the human body, which is
man's immediate environment, and which, in common with
Nature at large, he has to transform. The spiritual interest of
primary importance is, therefore, the development of the body
to a perfect organ for the Will — an adaptation which may on
the one hand itself be the means for ulterior objects, and on the
i 241
24 2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
other hand, appear as an object per se. Among the Greeks,
then, we find this boundless impulse of individuals to display
themselves, and to find their enjoyment in so doing. Sensuous
enjoyment does not become the basis of their condition when
a state of repose has been obtained, any more than the depen-
dence and stupor of superstition which enjoyment entails. They
are too powerfully excited, too much bent upon developing
their individuality, absolutely to adore Nature, as it manifests
itself in its aspects of power and beneficence. That peaceful
condition which ensued when a predatory life had been relin-
quished, and liberal nature had afforded security and leisure,
turned their energies in the direction of self-assertion — the ef-
fort to dignify themselves. But while on the one side they have
too much independent personality to be subjugated by super-
stition, that sentiment has not gone to the extent of making
them vain; on the contrary, essential conditions must be first
satisfied, before this can become a matter of vanity with them.
The exhilarating sense of personality, in contrast with sensuous
subjection to nature, and the need, not of mere pleasure, but of
the display of individual powers, in order thereby to gain special
distinction and consequent enjoyment, constitute therefore the
chief characteristic and principal occupation of the Greeks.
Free as the bird singing in the sky, the individual only expresses
what lies in his untrammelled human nature — [to give the
world " assurance of a man "] — to have his importance recog-
nized. This is the subjective beginning of Greek Art — in which
the human being elaborates his physical being, in free, beauti-
ful movement and agile vigor, to a work of art. The Greeks
first trained their own persons to beautiful configurations be^
fore they attempted the expression of such in marble and in
paintings. The innocuous contests of games, in which every
one exhibits his powers, is of very ancient date. Homer gives
a noble description of the games conducted by Achilles, in
honor of Patroclus ; but in all his poems there is no notice of
statues of the gods, though he mentions the sanctuary at Do-
dona, and the treasure-house of Apollo at Delphi. The games
in Homer consist in wrestling and boxing, running, horse and
chariot races, throwing the discus or javelin, and archery. With
these exercises are united dance and song, to express and form
part of the enjoyment of social exhilaration, and which arts
likewise blossomed into beauty. On the shield of Achilles,
THE GREEK WORLD
243
Hephaestus represents, among • other things, how beautiful
youths and maidens move as quickly " with well-taught feet,"
as the potter turns his wheel. The multitude stand round en-
joying the spectacle ; the divine singer accompanies the song
with the harp, and two chief dancers perform their evolutions
in the centre of the circle.
These games and aesthetic displays, with the pleasures and
honors that accompanied them, were at the outset only private,
originating in particular occasions ; but in the sequel they be-
came an affair of the nation, and were fixed for certain times at
appointed places. Besides the Olympic games in the sacred
district of Elis, there were also held the Isthmian, the Pythian,
and Nemean, at other places.
If we look at the inner nature of these sports, we shall first
observe how Sport itself is opposed to serious business, to
dependence and need. This wrestling, running, contending
was no serious affair; bespoke no obligation of defence, no
necessity of combat. Serious occupation is labor that has refer-
ence to some want. I or Nature must succumb ; if the one is to
continue, the other must fall. In contrast with this kind of
seriousness, however, Sport presents the higher seriousness ;
for in it Nature is wrought into Spirit, and although in these
contests the subject has not advanced to the highest grade of
serious thought, yet in this exercise of his physical powers,
man shows his Freedom, viz. that he has transformed his body
to an organ of Spirit.
Man has immediately in one of his organs, the Voice, an
element which admits and requires a more extensive purport
than the mere sensuous Present. We have seen how Song is
united with the Dance, and ministers to it : but, subsequently
Song makes itself independent, and requires musical instru-
ments to accompany it ; it then ceases to be unmeaning, like
the modulations of a bird, which may indeed express emotion,
but which have no objective import ; but it requires an import
created by imagination and Spirit, and which is then further
formed into an objective work of art.
244 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Chapter II The Objective Work of Art
If the subject of Song as thus developed among the Greeks
is made a question, we should say that its essential and absolute
purport is religious. We have examined the Idea embodied in
the Greek Spirit; and Religion is nothing else than this Idea
made objective.as the essence of being. According to that Idea,
we shall observe also that the Divine involves the vis nature?
only as an element suffering a process of transformation to
spiritual power. Of this Natural Element, as its origin, nothing
more remains than the accord of analogy involved in the repre-
sentation they formed of Spiritual power ; for the Greeks wor-
shipped God as Spiritual. We cannot, therefore, regard the
Greek divinity as similar to the Indian — some Power of Nature
for which the human shape supplies only an outward form.
The essence is the Spiritual itself, and the Natural is only the
point of departure. But on the other hand, it must be ob-
served, that the divinity of the Greeks is not yet the absolute,
free Spirit, but Spirit in a particular mode, fettered by the limi-
tations of humanity — still dependent as a determinate individ-
uality on external conditions. Individualities, objectively beau-
tiful, are the gods of the Greeks. The divine Spirit is here so
conditioned as to be not yet regarded as abstract Spirit, but has
a specialized existence — continues to manifest itself in sense ; but
so that the sensuous is not its substance, but is only an element
of its manifestation. This must be our leading idea in the con-
sideration of the Greek mythology, and we must have our atten-
tion fixed upon it so much the more firmly, as — partly through
the influence of erudition, which has whelmed essential prin-
ciples beneath an infinite amount of details, and partly through
that destructive analysis which is the work of the abstract Un-
derstanding — this mythology, together with the more ancient
periods of Greek history, has become a region of the greatest
intellectual confusion.
In the Idea of the Greek Spirit we found the two elements,
Nature and Spirit, in such a relation to each other, that Nature
forms merely the point of departure. This degradation of Nat-
ure is in the Greek mythology the turning point of the whole
— expressed as the War of the Gods, the overthrow of the Titans
by the race of Zeus. The transition from the Oriental to the
Occidental Spirit is therein represented, for the Titans are the
THE GREEK WORLD 245
merely Physical — natural existences, from whose grasp sov-
ereignty is wrested. It is true that they continue to be ven-
erated, but not as governing powers ; for they are relegated to
the verge [the limbus] of the world. The Titans are powers
of Nature, Uranus, Gsea, Oceanus, Selene, Helios, etc. Chronos
expresses the dominion of abstract Time, which devours its
children. The unlimited power of reproduction is restrained,
and Zeus appears as the head of the new divinities, who em-
body a spiritual import, and are themselves Spirit.* It is not
possible to express this transition more distinctly and naively
than in this myth ; the new dynasty of divinities proclaim their
peculiar nature to be of a Spiritual order.
The second point is, that the new divinities retain natural ele-
ments, and consequently in themselves a determinate relation
to the powers of Nature, as was previously shown. Zeus has
his lightnings and clouds, and Hera is the creatress of the
Natural, the producer of crescent vitality. Zeus is also the po-
litical god, the protector of morals and of hospitality. Oceanus,
as such, is only the element of Nature which his name denotes.
Poseidon has still the wildness of that element in his character ;
but he is also an ethical personage ; to him is ascribed the build-
ing of walls and the production of the Horse. Helios is the
sun as a natural element. This Light, according to the anal-
ogy of Spirit, has been transformed to self-consciousness, and
Apollo has proceeded from Helios. The name Aviceio*; points
to the connection with light ; Apollo was a herdsman in the em-
ploy of Admetus, but oxen not subjected to the yoke were
sacred to Helios : his rays, represented as arrows, kill the Py-
thon. The idea of Light as the natural power constituting the
basis of the representation, cannot be dissociated from this
divinity; especially as the other predicates attached to it are
easily united with it, and the explanations of Miiller and others,
who deny that basis, are much more arbitrary and far-fetched.
For Apollo is the prophesying and discerning god — Light, that
makes everything clear. He is, moreover, the healer and
strengthener ; as also the destroyer, for he kills men. He is
the propitiating and purifying god, e.g., in contravention of the
Eumenides — the ancient subterrene divinities — who exact hard,
stern justice. He himself is pure ; he has no wife, but only a
sister, and is not involved in various disgusting adventures, like
* See Hegel's " Vorles. uber die Philos. der Religion," II. p. 102 et seq. (2d edi-
tion.)
246 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Zeus ; moreover, he is the discerner and declarer, the singer
and leader of the dances — as the sun leads the harmonious
dance of stars. — In like manner the Naiads became the Muses.
The mother of the gods, Cybele — continuing to be worshipped
at Ephesus as Artemis — is scarcely to be recognized as the Ar-
temis of the Greeks — the chaste huntress and destroyer of wild
beasts. Should it be said that this change of the Natural into
the Spiritual is owing to our allegorizing, or that of the later
Greeks, we may reply, that this transformation of the Natural
to the Spiritual is the Greek Spirit itself. The epigrams of
the Greeks exhibit such advances from the Sensuous to the
Spiritual. But the abstract Understanding cannot comprehend
this blending of the Natural with the Spiritual.
It must be further observed, that the Greek gods are to be
regarded as individualities — not abstractions, like " Knowl-
edge," " Unity," " Time," " Heaven," " Necessity." Such ab-
stractions do not form the substance of these divinities ; they
are no allegories, no abstract beings, to which various attributes
are attached, like the Horatian " Necessitas clavis trabalibus."
As little are the divinities symbols, for a symbol is only a sign,
an adumbration of something else. The Greek gods express
of themselves what they are. The eternal repose and clear in-
telligence that dignifies the head of Apollo, is not a symbol, but
the expression in which Spirit manifests itself, and shows itself
present. The gods are personalities, concrete individualities:
an allegorical being has no qualities, but is itself one quality and
no more. The gods are, moreover, special characters, since in
each of them one peculiarity predominates as the characteristic
one ; but it would be vain to try to bring this circle of characters
into a system. Zeus, perhaps, may be regarded as ruling the
other gods, but not with substantial power ; so that they are
left free to their own idiosyncrasy. Since the whole range of
spiritual and moral qualities was appropriated by the gods, the
unity, which stood above them all, necessarily remained ab-
stract ; it was therefore formless and unmeaning Fact, [the ab-
solute constitution of things] — Necessity, whose oppressive
character arises from the absence of the Spiritual in it ; whereas
the gods hold a friendly relation to men, for they are Spiritual
natures. That higher thought, the knowledge of Unity as God
— the One Spirit — lay beyond that grade of thought which the
Greeks had attained.
THE GREEK WORLD 247
With regard to the adventitious and special that attaches to the
Greek gods, the question arises, where the external origin of
this adventitious element is to be looked for. It arises partly
from local characteristics — the scattered condition of the Greeks
at the commencement of their national life, fixing as this did on
certain points, and consequently introducing local representa-
tions. The local divinities stand alone, and occupy a much
greater extent than they do afterwards, when they enter into
the circle of the divinities, and are reduced to a limited position ;
they are conditioned by the particular consciousness and cir-
cumstances of the countries in which they appear. There are a
multitude of Herculeses and Zeuses, that have their local his-
tory like the Indian gods, who also at different places possess
temples to which a peculiar legend attaches. A similar rela-
tion occurs in the case of the Catholic saints and their legends ;
though here, not the several localities, but the one " Mater Dei "
supplies the point of departure, being afterwards localized in
the most diversified modes. The Greeks relate the liveliest and
most attractive stories of their gods — to which no limit can be
assigned, since rich fancies were always gushing forth anew
in the living Spirit of *he Greeks. A second source from which
adventitious specialities in the conception of the gods arose is
that Worship of Nature, whose representations retain a place
in the Greek myths, as certainly as they appear there also in a
regenerated and transfigured condition. The preservation of
the original myths, brings us to the famous chapter of the
" Mysteries," already mentioned. These mysteries of the Greeks
present something which, as unknown, has attracted the curios-
ity of all times, under the supposition of profound wisdom. It
must first be remarked that their antique and primary character,
in virtue of its very antiquity, shows their destitution of excel-
lence — their inferiority ; — that the more refined truths are not
expressed in these mysteries, and that the view which many have
entertained is incorrect, viz. — that the Unity of God, in oppo-
sition to polytheism, was taught in them. The mysteries were
rather antique rituals ; and it is as unhistorical as it is foolish,
to assume that profound philosophical truths are to be found
there ; since, on the contrary, only natural ideas — ruder con-
ceptions of the metamorphoses occurring everywhere in nature,
and of the vital principle that pervades it — were the subjects of
those mysteries. If we put together all the historical data per-
24 8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
tinent to tlie question, the result we shall inevitably arrive at will
be that the mysteries did not constitute a system of doctrines,
but were sensuous ceremonies and exhibitions, consisting of
symbols of the universal operations of Nature, as, e.g., the rela-
tion of the earth to celestial phenomena. The chief basis of the
representations of Ceres and Proserpine, Bacchus and his train,
was the universal principle of Nature ; and the accompanying
details were obscure stories and representations, mainly bear-
ing on the universal vital force and its metamorphoses. An
analogous process to that of Nature, Spirit has also to undergo ;
for it must be twice-born, i.e. abnegate itself ; and thus the repre-
sentations given in the mysteries called attention, though only
feebly, to the nature of Spirit. In the Greeks they produced an
emotion of shuddering awe; for an instinctive dread comes
over men, when a signification is perceived in a form, which as
a sensuous phenomenon does not express that signification, and
which therefore both repels and attracts — awakes surmises by
the import that reverberates through the whole, but at the same
time a thrill of dread at the repellent form. ^Eschylus was ac-
cused of having profaned the mysteries in his tragedies. The
indefinite representations and symbols of the Mysteries, in
which the profound import is only surmised, are an element
alien to the clear pure forms, and threaten them with destruc-
tion ; on which account the gods of Art remain separated from
the gods of the Mysteries, and the two spheres must be strictly
dissociated. Most of their gods the Greeks received from for-
eign lands — as Herodotus states expressly with regard to Egypt
— but these exotic myths were transformed and spiritualized by
the Greeks ; and that part of the foreign theogonies which ac-
companied them, was, in the mouth of the Hellenes, worked
up into a legendary narrative which often redounded to the dis-
advantage of the divinities. Thus also the brutes which con-
tinued to rank as gods among the Egyptians, were degraded
to external signs, accompanying the Spiritual god. While they
have each an individual character, the Greek gods are also
represented as human, and this anthropomorphism is charged
as a defect. On the contrary (we may immediately rejoin) man
as the Spiritual constitutes the element of truth in the Greek
gods, which rendered them superior to all elemental deities,
and all mere abstractions of the One and Highest Being. On
the other side it is alleged as an advantage of the Greek gods
THE GREEK WORLD
249
that they are represented as men — that being regarded as not
the case with the Christian God. Schiller says :
" While the gods remained more human,
The men were more ,divine."
But the Greek gods must not be regarded as more human than
the Christian God. Christ is much more a Man: he lives, dies
— suffers death on the cross — which is infinitely more human
than the humanity of the Greek Idea of the Beautiful. But in
referring to this common element of the Greek and the Chris-
tian religions, it must be said of both, that if a manifestation
of God is to be supposed at all, his natural form must be that
of Spirit, which for sensuous conception is essentially the
human ; for no other form can lay claim to spirituality. God
appears indeed in the sun, in the mountains, in the tr es, in
everything that has life ; but a natural appearance of this kind,
is not the form proper to Spirit : here God is cognizable only
in the mind of the percipient. If God himself is to be manifested
in a corresponding expression, that can only be the human
form : for from this the Spiritual beams forth. But if it were
asked: Does God necessarily manifest himself? the question
must be answered in the affirmative ; for there is no essential
existence that does not manifest itself. The real defect of the
Greek religion, as compared with the Christian, is, therefore,
that in the former the manifestation constitutes the highest mode
in which the Divine being is conceived to exist — the sum and
substance of divinity ; while in the Christian religion the man-
ifestation is regarded only as a temporary phase of the Divine.
Here the manifested God dies, and elevates himself to glory;
only after death is Christ represented as sitting at the right hand
of God. The Greek god, on the contrary, exists for his wor-
shippers perennially in the manifestation — only in marble, in
metal or wood, or as figured by the imagination. But why did
God not appear to the Greeks in the flesh ? Because man was
not duly estimated, did not obtain honor and dignity, till he had
more fully elaborated and developed himself in the attainment
of the Freedom implicit in the aesthetic manifestation in ques-
tion ; the form and shaping of the divinity therefore continued
to be the product of individual views, [not a general, imper-
sonal one] . One element in Spirit is, that it produces itself —
makes itself what it is : and the other is, that it is originally free
25°
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
— that Freedom is its nature and its Idea. But the Greeks, since
they had not attained an intellectual conception of themselves,
did not yet realize Spirit in its Universality — had not the idea
of man and the essential unity of the divine and human nature
according to the Christian view. Only the self-reliant, truly
subjective Spirit can bear to dispense with the phenomenal side,
and can venture to assign the Divine Nature to Spirit alone.
It then no longer needs to inweave the Natural into its idea of
the Spiritual, in order to hold fast its conception of the Divine,
and to have its unity with the Divine, externally visible ; but
while free Thought thinks the Phenomenal, it is content to
leave it as it is ; for it also thinks that union of the Finite and
the Infinite, and recognizes it not as a mere accidental union,
but as the Absolute — the eternal Idea itself. Since Subjectivity
was not comprehended in all its depth by the Greek Spirit, the
true reconciliation was not attained in it, and the human Spirit
did not yet assert its true position. This defect showed itself
in the fact of Fate as pure subjectivity appearing superior to
the gods ; it also shows itself in the fact, that men derive their
resolves not yet from themselves, but from their Oracles.
Neither human nor divine subjectivity, recognized as infinite,
has as yet, absolutely decisive authority.
Chapter III — The Political Work of Art
The State unites the two phases just considered, viz., the
Subjective and the Objective Work of Art. In the State, Spirit
is not a mere Object, like the deities, nor, on the other hand, is
it merely subjectively developed to a beautiful physique. It is
here a living, universal Spirit, but which is at the same time the
self-conscious Spirit of the individuals composing the com-
munity.
The Democratical Constitution alone was adapted to the Spirit
and political condition in question. In the East we recognized
Despotism, developed in magnificent proportions, as a form of
government strictly appropriate to the Dawn-Land of History.
Not less adapted is the democratical form in Greece, to the part
assigned to it in the same great drama. In Greece, viz., we have
the freedom of the Individual, but it has not yet advanced to
such a degree of abstraction, that the subjective unit is conscious
of direct dependence on the [general] substantial principle —
THE GREEK WORLD 251
the State as such. In this grade of Freedom, the individual will
is unfettered in the entire range of its vitality, and embodies that
substantial principle [the bond of the political union], accord-
ing to its particular idiosyncrasy. In Rome, on the other hand,
we shall observe a harsh sovereignty dominating over the in-
dividual members of the State ; as also in the German Empire,
a monarchy, in which the Individual is connected with and has
devoirs to perform not only in regard to the monarch, but to
the whole monarchical organization.
The Democratical State is not Patriarchal — does not rest on
a still unreflecting, undeveloped confidence — but implies laws,
with the consciousness of their being founded on an equitable
and moral basis, and the recognition of these laws as positive.
At the time of the Kings, no political life had as yet made its
appearance in Hellas ; there are, therefore, only slight traces of
Legislation. But in the interval from the Trojan War till near
the time of Cyrus, its necessity was felt. The first Lawgivers
are known under the name of The Seven Sages — a title which
at that time did not imply any such character as that of the
Sophists — teachers of wisdom, designedly [and systematically]
proclaiming the Right and True — but merely thinking men,
whose thinking stopped short of Science, properly so called.
They were practical politicians ; the good counsels which two
of them — Thales of Miletus and* Bias of Priene — gave to the
Ionian cities, have been already mentioned. Thus Solon was
commissioned by the Athenians to give them laws, as those
then in operation no longer sufficed. Solon gave the Athe-
nians a constitution by which all obtained equal rights, yet not
so as to render the Democracy a quite abstract one. The main
point in Democracy is moral disposition. Virtue is the basis of
Democracy, remarks Montesquieu; and this sentiment is as
important as it is true in reference to the idea of Democracy
commonly entertained. The Substance, [the Principle] of
Justice, the common weal, the general interest, is the main con-
sideration ; but it is so only as Custom, in the form of Objective
Will, so that morality properly so called — subjective convic-
tion and intention — has not yet manifested itself. Law exists,
and is in point of substance, the Law of Freedom — rational [in
its form and purport,] and valid because it is Law, i.e. without
ulterior sanction. As in Beauty the Natural element — its sen-
suous coefficient — remains, so also in this customary morality.
Vol. 23 L— Classics
252 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
laws assume the form of a necessity of Nature. The Greeks oc-
cupy the middle ground of Beauty and have not yet attained the
higher standpoint of Truth. While Custom and Wont is the
form in which the Right is willed and done, that form is a stable
one, and has not yet admitted into it the foe of [unreflected] im-
mediacy — reflection and subjectivity of Will. The interests of
the community may, therefore, continue to be intrusted to the
will and resolve of the citizens — and this must be the basis of
the Greek constitution ; for no principle has as yet manifested
itself, which can contravene such Choice conditioned by Cus-
tom, and hinder its realizing itself in action. The Democratic
Constitution is here the only possible one : the citizens are still
unconscious of particular interests, and therefore of a corrupt-
ing element: the Objective Will is in their case not disin-
tegrated. Athene the goddess is Athens itself — i.e., the real
and concrete spirit of the citizens. The divinity ceases to in-
spire their life and conduct, only when the Will has retreated
within itself — into the adytum of cognition and conscience — and
has posited the infinite schism between the Subjective and the
Objective. The above is the true position of the Democratic
polity; its justification and absolute necessity rest on this still
immanent Objective Morality. For the modern conceptions
of Democracy this justification cannot be pleaded. These pro-
vide that the interests of the community, the affairs of State,
shall be discussed and decided by the People ; that the individ-
ual members of the community shall deliberate, urge their
respective opinions, and give their votes ; and this on the
ground that the interests of the State and its concerns are the
interests of such individual members. All this is very well ;
but the essential condition^ and distinction in regard to various
phases of Democracy is : What is the character of these individ-
ual members ? They are absolutely authorized to assume their
position, only in as far as their will is still Objective Will — not
one that wishes this or that, not mere " good " will. For good
will is something particular — rests on the morality of individ-
uals, on their conviction and subjective feeling. That very sub-
jective Freedom which constitutes the principle and determines
the peculiar form of Freedom in our world — which forms the
absolute basis of our political and religious life, could not mani-
fest itself in Greece otherwise than as a destructive element.
Subjectivity was a grade not greatly in advance of that occu-
THE GREEK WORLD
253
pied by the Greek Spirit; that phase must of necessity soon
be attained : but it plunged the Greek world into ruin, for the
polity which that world embodied was not calculated for this
side of humanity — did not recognize this phase; since it had
not made its appearance when that polity began to exist. Of
the Greeks in the first and genuine form of their Freedom, we
may assert, that they had no conscience; the habit of living
for their country without further [analysis or] reflection, was
the principle dominant among them. The consideration of the
State in the abstract — which to our understanding is the essen-
tial point — was alien to them. Their grand object was their
country in its living and real aspect; — this actual Athens, this
Sparta, these Temples, these Altars, this form of social life, this
union of fellow-citizens, these manners and customs. To the
Greek his country was a necessary of life, without which exist-
ence was impossible. It was the Sophists — the " Teachers of
Wisdom " — who first introduced subjective reflection, and the
new doctrine that each man should act according to his own con-
viction. When reflection once comes into play, the inquiry is
started whether the Principles of Law (das Recht) cannot be
improved. Instead of holding by the existing state of things,
internal conviction is relied upon ; and thus begins a subjective
independent Freedom, in which the individual finds himself in
a position to bring everything to the test of his own conscience,
even in defiance of the existing constitution. Each one has
his " principles," and that view which accords with his private
judgment he regards as practically the best, and as claiming
practical realization. This decay even Thucydides notices,
when he speaks of every one's thinking that things are going
on badly when he has not a hand in the management.
To this state of things — in which every one presumes to have
a judgment of his own — confidence in Great Men is antagonis-
tic. When, in earlier times, the Athenians commission Solon to
legislate for them, or when Lycurgus appears at Sparta as law-
giver and regulator of the State, it is evidently not supposed
that the people in general think that they know best what is
politically right. At a later time also, it was distinguished per-
sonages of plastic genius in whom the people placed their con-
fidence : Cleisthenes, e.g. who made the constitution still more
democratic than it had been — Miltiades, Themistocles, Aris-
tides, and Cimon, who in the Median wars stand at the head of
254 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Athenian affairs — and Pericles, in whom Athenian glory cen-
tres as in its focus. But as soon as any of these great men had
performed what was needed, envy intruded — i.e. the recoil of
the sentiment of equality against conspicuous talent — and he
was either imprisoned or exiled. Finally, the Sycophants arose
among the people, aspersing all individual greatness, and revil-
ing those who took the lead in public affairs.
But there are three other points in the condition of the Greek
republics that must be particularly observed.
i. With Democracy in that form in which alone it existed in
Greece, Oracles are intimately connected. To an independent
resolve, a consolidated Subjectivity of the Will (in which the
latter is determined by preponderating reasons) is absolutely
indispensable ; but the Greeks had not this element of strength
and vigor in their volition. When a colony was to be founded,
when it was proposed to adopt the worship of foreign deities,
or when a general was about to give battle to the enemy, the
oracles were consulted. Before the battle of Plataea, Pausanias
took care that an augury should be taken from the animals
offered in sacrifice, and was informed by the soothsayer Tisam-
enus that the sacrifices were favorable to the Greeks provided
they remained on the hither side of the Asopus, but the con-
trary, if they crossed the stream and began the battle. Pau-
sanias, therefore, awaited the attack. In their private affairs,
too, the Greeks came to a determination not so much from sub-
jective conviction as from some extraneous suggestion. With
the advance of democracy we observe the oracles no longer con-
sulted on the most important matters, but the particular views
of popular orators influencing and deciding the policy of the
State. As at this time Socrates relied upon his " Daemon," so
the popular leaders and the people relied on their individual
convictions in forming their decisions. But contemporaneously
with this were introduced corruption, disorder, and an unin-
termitted process of change in the constitution.
2. Another circumstance that demands special attention here,
is the element of Slavery. This was a necessary condition oi
an aesthetic democracy, where it was the right and duty of every
citizen to deliver or to listen to orations respecting the man-
agement of the State in the place of public assembly, to take part
in the exercise of the Gymnasia, and to join in the celebration
of festivals. It was a necessary condition of such occupations,
THE GREEK WORLD 255
that the citizens should be freed from handicraft occupations ;
consequently, that what among us is performed by free citizens
— the work of daily life — should be done by slaves. Slavery
does not cease until the Will has been infinitely self-reflected *
— until Right is conceived as appertaining to every freeman,
and the term freeman is regarded as a synonym for man in his
generic nature as endowed with Reason. But here we still oc-
cupy the standpoint of Morality as mere Wont and Custom,
and therefore known only as a peculiarity attaching to a cer-
tain kind of existence [not as absolute and universal Law].
3. It must also be remarked, thirdly, that such democratic
constitutions are possible only in small states — states which do
not much exceed the compass of cities. The whole Polis of
the Athenians is united in the one city of Athens. Tradition
tells that Theseus united the scattered Demes into an integral
totality. In the time of Pericles, at the beginning of the Pelo-
ponnesian War, when the Spartans were marching upon Attica,
its entire population took refuge in the city. Only in such cities
can the interests of all be similar ; in large empires, on the con-
trary, diverse and conflicting interests are sure to present them-
selves. The living together in one city, the fact that the in-
habitants see each other daily, render a common culture and a
living democratic polity possible. In Democracy, the main
point is that the character of the citizen be plastic, all " of a
piece." He must be present at the critical stages of public busi-
ness ; he must take part in decisive crises with his entire per-
sonality — not with his vote merely; he must mingle in the
heat of action — the passion and interest of the whole man being
absorbed in the affair, and the warmth with which a resolve was
made being equally ardent during its execution. That unity of
opinion to which the whole community must be brought [when
any political step is to be taken,] must be produced in the indi-
vidual members of the state by oratorical suasion. If this were
attempted by writing — in an abstract, lifeless way — no general
fervor would be excited among the social units ; and the greater
the number, the less weight would each individual vote have.
In a large empire a general inquiry might be made, votes might
be gathered in the several communities, and the results reck-
oned up — as was done by the French Convention. But a po-
litical existence of this kind is destitute of life, and the World
* That is— the Objective and the Subjective Will must be harmonized.— Ed.
256 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
is ipso facto broken into fragments and dissipated into a mere
Paper-world. In the French Revolution, therefore, the repub-
lican constitution never actually became a Democracy: Tyr-
anny, Despotism, raised its voice under the mask of Freedom
and Equality.
We come now to the Second Period of Greek History. The
first period saw the Greek Spirit attain its aesthetic development
and reach maturity — realize its essential being. The second
shows it manifesting itself — exhibits it in its full glory as pro-
ducing a work for the world, asserting its principle in the
struggle with an antagonistic force, and triumphantly main*
taining it against that attack.
The Wars with the Persians
The period of contact with the preceding World-Historical
people, is generally to be regarded as the second in the history
of any nation. The World-Historical contact of the Greeks
was with the Persians; in that, Greece exhibited itself in its
most glorious aspect. The occasion of the Median wars was the
revolt of the Ionian cities against the Persians, in which the
Athenians and Eretrians assisted them. That which, in par-
ticular, induced the Athenians to take their part, was the cir-
cumstance that the son of Pisistratus, after his attempts to re-
gain sovereignty in Athens had failed in Greece, had betaken
himself to the King of the Persians. The Father of History has
given us a brilliant description of these Median wars, and for
the object we are now pursuing we need not dwell long upon
them.
At the beginning of the Median wars, Lacedaemon was in
possession of the Hegemony, partly as the result of having sub-
jugated and enslaved the free nation of the Messenians, partly
because it had assisted many Greek states to expel their Ty-
rants. Provoked by the part the Greeks had taken in assisting
the Ionians against him, the Persian King sent heralds to the
Greek cities to require them to give Water and Earth, i.e. to
acknowledge his supremacy. The Persian envoys were con-
temptuously sent back, and the Lacedaemonians went so far
as to throw them into a well — a deed, however, of which they
afterwards so deeply repented, as to send two Lacedaemonians
to Susa in expiation. The Persian King then despatched an
army to invade Greece. With its vastly superior force the
THE GREEK WORLD 257
Athenians and Platgeans, without aid from their compatriots,
contended at Marathon under Miltiades, and gained the victory.
Afterwards, Xerxes came down upon Greece with his enormous
masses of nations (Herodotus gives a detailed description of
this expedition) ; and with the terrible array of land-forces was
associated the not less formidable fleet. Thrace, Macedon, and
Thessaly were soon subjugated ; but the entrance into Greece
Proper — the Pass of Thermopylae — was defended by three hun-
dred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians, whose fate is well
known. Athens, voluntarily deserted by its inhabitants, was
ravaged ; the images of the gods which it contained were " an
abomination " to the Persians, who worshipped the Amorphous,
the Unformed. In spite of the disunion of the Greeks, the Per-
sian fleet was beaten at Salamis ; and this glorious battle-day
presents the three greatest tragedians of Greece in remarkable
chronological association : for ^Eschylus was one of the com-
batants, and helped to gain the victory, Sophocles danced at
the festival that celebrated it, and on the same day Euripides
was born. The host that remained in Greece, under the com-
mand of Mardonius, was beaten at Plataea by Pausanias, and the
Persian power was consequently broken at various points.
Thus was Greece freed from the pressure which threatened to
overwhelm it. Greater battles, unquestionably, have been
fought ; but these live immortal not in the historical records of
Nations only, but also of Science and of Art — of the Noble and
the Moral generally. For these are World-Historical victories ;
they were the salvation of culture and Spiritual vigor, and they
rendered the Asiatic principle powerless. How often, on other
occasions, have not men sacrificed everything for one grand
object ! How often have not warriors fallen for Duty and Coun-
try! But here we are called to admire not only valor, genius
and spirit, but the purport of the contest — the effect, the result,
which are unique in their kind. In all other battles a particular
interest is predominant ; but the immortal fame of the Greeks
is none other than their due, in consideration of the noble cause
for which deliverance was achieved. In the history of the world
it is not the formal [subjective and individual] valor that has
been displayed, not the so-called merit of the combatants, but
the importance of the cause itself, that must decide the fame of
the achievement. In the case before us, the interest of the
(World's History hung trembling in the balance. Oriental des-
258 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
potism — a world united under one lord and sovereign — on the
one side, and separate states — insignificant in extent and re-
sources, but animated by free individuality — on the other side,
stood front to front in array of battle. Never in History has the
superiority of spiritual power over material bulk — and that of
no contemptible amount — been made so gloriously manifest.
This war, and the subsequent development of the states which
took the lead in it, is the most brilliant period of Greece. Every-
thing which the Greek principle involved, then reached its per-
fect bloom and came into the light of day.
The Athenians continued their wars of conquest for a con-
siderable time, and thereby attained a high degree of prosperity ;
while the Lacedaemonians, who had no naval power, remained
quiet. The antagonism of Athens and Sparta now commences
— a favorite theme for historical treatment. It may be asserted
that it is an idle inquiry, which of these two states justly claims
the superiority, and that the endeavor should rather be, to
exhibit each as in its own department a necessary and worthy
phase of the Greek Spirit. On Sparta's behalf, e.g. many cate-
gories may be referred to in which she displays excellence;
strictness in point of morals, subjection to discipline, etc., may
be advantageously cited. But the leading principle chat charac-
terizes this state is Political Virtue, which Athens and Sparta
have, indeed, in common, but which in the one state developed
itself to a work of Art, viz., Free Individuality — in the other
retained its substantial form. Before we speak of the Pelopon-
nesian War, in which the jealousy of Sparta and Athens broke
out into a flame, we must exhibit more specifically the funda-
mental character of the two states — their distinctions in a po-
litical and moral respect.
' Athens
We have already become acquainted with Athens as an
asylum for the inhabitants of the other districts of Greece, in
which a very mixed population was congregated. The various
branches of human industry — agriculture, handicraft, and trade
(especially by sea) — were united in Athens, but gave occasion
to much dissension. An antagonism had early arisen between
ancient and wealthy families and such as were poorer. Three
parties, whose distinction had been grounded on their local
position and the mode of life which that position suggested,
THE GREEK WORLD 259
were then fully recognized. These were, the Pediseans — in-
habitants of the plain, the rich and aristocratic ; the Diacrians —
mountaineers, cultivators of the vine and olive, and herdsmen,
who were the most numerous class ; and between the two [in
political status and sentiment] the Paralians — inhabitants of
the coast, the moderate party. The polity of the state was
wavering between Aristocracy and Democracy. Solon effected,
by his division into four property-classes, a medium between
these opposites. All these together formed the popular assem-
bly for deliberation and decision on public affairs; but the
offices of government were reserved for the three superior
classes. It is remarkable that even while Solon was still living
and actually present, and in spite of his opposition, Pisistratus
acquired supremacy. The constitution had, as it were, not yet
entered into the blood and life of the community ; it had not
yet become the habit of moral and civil existence. But it is still
more remarkable that Pisistratus introduced no legislative
changes, and that he presented himself before the Areopagus to
answer an accusation brought against him. The rule of Pisis-
tratus and of his sons appears to have been needed for repress-
ing the power of great families and factions — for accustoming
them to order and peace, and the citizens generally, on the other
hand, to the Solonian legislation. This being accomplished,
that rule was necessarily regarded as superfluous, and the prin-
ciples of a free code enter into conflict with the power of the
Pisistratidae. The Pisistratidae were expelled, Hipparchus
killed, and Hippias banished. Then factions were revived ; the
Alcmaeonidse, who took the lead in the insurrection, favored
Democracy ; on the other hand, the Spartans aided the adverse
party of Isagoras, which followed the aristocratic direction.
The Alcmseonidse, with Cleisthenes at their head, kept the upper
hand. This leader made the constitution still more democratic
than it had been ; the fyvkai, of which hitherto there had been
only four, were increased to ten, and this had the effect of dimin-
ishing the influence of the clans. Lastly, Pericles rendered the
constitution yet more democratic by diminishing the essential
dignity of the Areopagus, and bringing causes that had hitherto
belonged to it, before the Demos and the [ordinary] tribunals.
Pericles was a statesman of plastic * antique character : when
* " Plastic," intimating his absolute diffused as a vitalizing and formative
devotion to statesmanship ; the latter not power through the whole man. The
being a mere mechanical addition, but same term is used below to distinguish
2 6o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
he devoted himself to public life, he renounced private life,
withdrew from all feasts and banquets, and pursued without
intermission his aim of being useful to the state — a course of
conduct by which he attained such an exalted position, that
Aristophanes calls him the Zeus of Athens. We cannot but ad-
mire him in the highest degree : he stood at the head of a light-
minded but highly refined and cultivated people ; the only
means by which he could obtain influence and authority over
them, was his personal character and the impression he pro-
duced of his being a thoroughly noble man, exclusively intent
upon the weal of the State, and of superiority to his fellow-citi-
zens in native genius and acquired knowledge. In force of
individual character no statesman can be compared with him.
As a general principle, the Democratic Constitution affords
the widest scope for the development of great political charac-
ters ; for it excels all others in virtue of the fact that it not only
allows of the display of their powers on the part of individuals,
but summons them to use those powers for the general weal. At
the same time, no member of the community can obtain influ-
ence unless he has the power of satisfying the intellect and judg-
ment, as well as the passions and volatility of a cultivated
people.
In Athens a vital freedom existed, and a vital equality of man-
ners and mental culture; and if inequality of property could
not be avoided, it nevertheless did not reach an extreme. To-
gether with this equality, and within the compass of this freedom,
all diversities of character and talent, and all variety of idiosyn-
crasy could assert themselves in the most unrestrained manner,
and find the most abundant stimulus to development in its en-
vironment ; for the predominant elements of Athenian existence
were the independence of the social units, and a culture ani-
mated by the Spirit of Beauty. It was Pericles who originated
the production of those eternal monuments of sculpture whose
scanty remains astonish posterity ; it was before this people
that the dramas oF^Eschylus and Sophocles were performed ;
and later on those of Euripides — which, however, do not exhibit
the same plastic moral character, and in which the principle of
corruption is more manifest. To this people were addressed the
orations of Pericles : from it sprung a band of men whose genius
the vitalizing morality that pervades the from the abstract sentimentalities of Eu«
dramas of yEschylus and Sophocles, ripides. — Ed.
THE GREEK WORLD 261
has become classical for all centuries ; for to this number be-
long, besides those already named, Thucydides, Socrates, Plato,
and Aristophanes — the last of whom preserved entire the po-
litical seriousness of his people at the time when it was being
corrupted ; and who, imbued with this seriousness, wrote and
dramatized with a view to his country's weal. We recognize
in the Athenians great industry, susceptibility to excitement,
and development of individuality within the sphere of Spirit
conditioned by the morality of Custom. The blame with which
we find them visited in Xenophon and Plato, attaches rather to
that later period when misfortune and the corruption of the
democracy had already supervened. But if we would have the
verdict of the Ancients on the political life of Athens, we must
turn, not to Xenophon, nor even to Plato, but to those who had
a thorough acquaintance with the state in its full vigor — who
managed its affairs and have been esteemed its greatest leaders
— i.e., to its Statesmen. Among these, Pericles is the Zeus of
the human Pantheon of Athens. Thucydides puts into his
mouth the most profound description of Athenian life, on the
occasion of the funeral obsequies of the warriors who fell in the
second year of the Peloponnesian War. He proposes to show
for what a city and in support of what interests they had died ;
and this leads the speaker directly to the essential elements of
the Athenian community. He goes on to paint the character
of Athens, and what he says is most profoundly thoughtful, as
well as most just and true. " We love the beautiful," he says,
" but without ostentation or extravagance ; we philosophize
without being seduced thereby into effeminacy and inactivity
(for when men give themselves up to Thought, they get further
and further from the Practical — from activity for the public,
for the common weal). We are bold and daring; but this
courageous energy in action does not prevent us from giving
ourselves an account of what we undertake (we have a clear
consciousness respecting it) ; among other nations, on the con-
trary, martial daring has its basis in deficiency of culture : we
know best how to distinguish between the agreeable and the
irksome ; notwithstanding which, we do not shrink from perils."
Thus Athens exhibited the spectacle of a state whose existence
was essentially directed to realizing the Beautiful, which had a
thoroughly cultivated consciousness respecting the serious side
of public affairs and the interests of Man's Spirit and Life, and
262 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
united with that consciousness, hardy courage and practical
ability.
Sparta
Here we witness on the other hand rigid abstract virtue — a
life devoted to the State, but in which the activity and freedom
of individuality are put in the background. The polity of Sparta
is based on institutions which do full justice to the interest of the
State, but whose object is a lifeless equality — not free move-
ment. The very first steps in Spartan History are very different
from the early stages of Athenian development. The Spartans
were Dorians — the Athenians, Ionians ; and this national dis-
tinction has an influence on their Constitution also. In refer-
ence to the mode in which the Spartan State originated, we
observe that the Dorians invaded the Peloponnesus with the
Heracleidse, subdued the indigenous tribes, and condemned
them to slavery; for the Helots were doubtless aborigines.
The fate that had befallen the Helots was suffered at a later
epoch by the Messenians; for inhuman severity of this order
was innate in Spartan character. While the Athenians had a
family-life, and slaves among them were inmates of the house,
the relation of the Spartans to the subjugated race was one of
even greater harshness than that of the Turks to the Greeks ; a
state of warfare was constantly kept up in Lacedasmon. In
entering upon office, the Ephors made an unreserved declara-
tion of war against the Helots, and the latter were habitually
given up to the younger Spartans to be practised upon in their
martial exercises. The Helots were on some occasions set
free, and fought against the enemy ; moreover, they displayed
extraordinary valor in the ranks of the Spartans ; but on their
return they were butchered in the most cowardly and insidious
way. As in a slave-ship the crew are constantly armed, and
the greatest care is taken to prevent an insurrection, so the
Spartans exercised a constant vigilance over the Helots, and
were always in a condition of war, as against enemies.
Property in land was divided, even according to the consti-
tution of Lycurgus (as Plutarch relates), into equal parts, of
which 9,000 only belonged to the Spartans — i.e., the inhabitants
of the city — and 30,000 to the Lacedaemonians or Periaeci. At
the same time it was appointed, in order to maintain this equal-
ity, that the portions of ground should not be sold. But how
little such an institution avails to effect its object, is proved by
THE GREEK WORLD 263
the fact, that in the sequel Lacedsemon owed its ruin chiefly to
the inequality of possessions. As daughters were capable of
inheriting, many estates had come by marriage into the posses-
sion of a few families, and at last all the landed property was in
the hands of a limited number ; as if to show how foolish it is
to attempt a forced equality — an attempt which, while ineffec-
tive in realizing its professed object, is also destructive of a
most essential point of liberty — the free disposition of property.
Another remarkable feature in the legislation of Lycurgus, is
his forbidding all money except that made of iron — an enact-
ment which necessitated the abolition of all foreign business and
traffic. The Spartans moreover had no naval force — a force
indispensable to the support and furtherance of commerce;
and on occasions when such a force was required, they had to
apply to the Persians for it.
It was with an especial view to promote similarity of man-
ners, and a more intimate acquaintance of the citizens with each
other, that the Spartans had meals in common — a community,
however, which disparaged family life ; for eating and drinking
is a private affair, and consequently belongs to domestic retire-
ment. It was so regarded among the Athenians ; with them
association was not material but spiritual, and even their ban-
quets, as we see from Xenophon and Plato, had an intellectual
tone. Among the Spartans, ori the other hand, the costs of the
common meal were met by the contributions of the several
members, and he who was too poor to offer such a contribution
was consequently excluded.
As to the Political Constitution of Sparta, its basis may be
called democratic, but with considerable modifications which
rendered it almost an Aristocracy and Oligarchy. At the head
of the State were two Kings, at whose side was a Senate
(ryepovcta), chosen from the best men of the State, and which
also performed the functions of a court of justice — deciding
rather in accordance with moral and legal customs, than with
written laws.* The <yepov<rla was also the highest State-Council
— the Council of the Kings, regulating the most important
affairs. Lastly, one of the highest magistracies was that of the
Ephors, respecting whose election we have no definite informa-
* Otfried Miiller, in his " History of minds. But such an imprinting is al-
the Dorians," gives too dignified an as- ways something indefinite; laws must be
pect to this fact; he says that Justice written, that it may be distinctly known
was, as it were, imprinted on their what is forbidden and what is allowed.
264 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
tion ; Aristotle says that the mode of choice was exceedingly
childish. We learn from Aristotle that even persons without
nobility or property could attain this dignity. The Ephors had
full authority to convoke popular assemblies, to put resolutions
to the vote, and to propose laws, almost in the same way as the
tribuni plebis in Rome. Their power became tyrannical, like that
which Robespierre and his party exercised for a time in France.
While the Lacedaemonians directed their entire attention to
the State, Intellectual Culture — Art and Science — was not
domiciled among them. The Spartans appeared to the rest of
the Greeks, stiff, coarse, awkward beings, who could not trans-
act business involving any degree of intricacy, or at least per-
formed it very clumsily. Thucydides makes the Athenians say
to the Spartans : " You have laws and customs which have noth-
ing in common with others ; and besides this, you proceed,
when you go into other countries, neither in accordance with
these, nor with the traditionary usages of Hellas." In their
intercourse at home, they were, on the whole, honorable ; but
as regarded their conduct towards other nations, they them-
selves plainly declared that they held their own good pleasure
for the Commendable, and what was advantageous for the
Right. It is well known that in Sparta (as was also the case in
Egypt) the taking away of the necessaries of life, under certain
conditions, was permitted ; only the thief must not allow him-
self to be discovered. Thus the two States, Athens and Sparta,
stand in contrast with each other. The morality of the latter
is rigidly directed to the maintenance of the State ; in the
former we find a similar ethical relation, but with a cultivated
consciousness, and boundless activity in the production of the
Beautiful — subsequently, of the True also.
This Greek morality, though extremely beautiful, attrac-
tive and interesting in its manifestation, is not the highest point
of view for Spiritual self-consciousness. It wants the form of
Infinity, the reflection of thought within itself, the emancipation
from the Natural element — (the Sensuous that lurks in the char-
acter of Beauty and Divinity [as comprehended by the Greeks])
— and from that immediacy, [that undeveloped simplicity,]
which attaches to their ethics. Self-Comprehension on the part
of Thought is wanting — illimitable Self-Consciousness — de-
manding, that what is regarded by me as Right and Morality
should have its confirmation in myself — from the testimony of
THE GREEK WORLD 265
my own Spirit ; that the Beautiful (the Idea as manifested in
sensuous contemplation or conception) may also become the
True — an inner, supersensuous world. The standpoint occu-
pied by the ^Esthetic Spiritual Unity which we have just de-
scribed, could not long be the resting-place of Spirit; and the
element in which further advance and corruption originated,
was that of Subjectivity — inward morality, individual reflection,
and an inner life generally. The perfect bloom of Greek life
lasted only about sixty years — from the Median wars, B.C. 492,
to the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 431. The principle of subjective
morality which was inevitably introduced, became the germ of
corruption, which, however, showed itself in a different form in
Athens from that which it assumed in Sparta: in Athens, as
levity in public conduct, in Sparta, as private depravation of
morals. In their fall, the Athenians showed themselves not only
amiable, but great and noble — to such a degree that we cannot
but lament it ; among the Spartans, on the contrary, the prin-
ciple of subjectivity develops itself in vulgar greed, and issues
in vulgar ruin.
The Peloponnesian War
The principle of corruption displayed itself first in the ex-
ternal political development — in the contest of the states of
Greece with each other, and the struggle of factions within the
cities themselves. The Greek Morality had made Hellas unfit
to form one common state ; for the dissociation of small states
from each other, and the concentration in cities, where the in-
terest and the spiritual culture pervading the whole, could be
identical, was the necessary condition of that grade of Free-
dom which the Greeks occupied. It was only a momentary
combination that occurred in the Trojan War, and even in the
Median wars a union could not be accomplished. Although the
tendency towards such a union is discoverable, the bond was
but weak, its permanence was always endangered by jealousy,
and the contest for the Hegemony set the States at variance
with each other. A general outbreak of hostilities in the Pelo-
ponnesian War was the consummation. Before it, and even at
its commencement, Pericles was at the head of the Athenian
nation — that people most jealous of its liberty ; it was only his
elevated personality and great genius that enabled him to main-
tain his position. After the wars with the Medes, Athens enjoyed
266 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the Hegemony ; a number of allies — partly islands, partly towns
— were obliged to contribute to the supplies required for con-
tinuing the war against the Persians ; and instead of the con-
tribution being made in the form of fleets or troops, the subsidy
was paid in money. Thereby an immense power was concen-
trated in Athens ; a part of the money was expended in great
architectural works, in the enjoyment of which, since they were
products of Spirit, the allies had some share. But that Pericles
did not devote the whole of the money to works of Art, but also
made provision for the Demos in other ways, was evident after
his death, from the quantity of stores amassed in several maga-
zines, but especially in the naval arsenal. Xenophon says:
" Who does not stand in need of Athens ? Is she not indispen-
sable to all lands that are rich in corn and herds, in oil and wine
— to all who wish to traffic either in money or in mind? — to
craftsmen, sophists, philosophers, poets, and all who desire what
is worth seeing or hearing in sacred and public matters ? "
In the Peloponnesian War, the struggle was essentially be-
tween Athens and Sparta. Thucydides has left us the history
of the greater part of it, and his immortal work is the absolute
gain which humanity has derived from that contest. Athens
allowed herself to be hurried into the extravagant projects of
Alcibiades; and when these had already much weakened her,
she was compelled to succumb to the Spartans, who were guilty
of the treachery of applying for aid to Persia, and who obtained
from the King supplies of money and a naval force. They were
also guilty of a still more extensive treason, in abolishing de-
mocracy in Athens and in the cities of Greece generally, and in
giving a preponderance to factions that desired oligarchy, but
were not strong enough to maintain themselves without foreign
assistance. Lastly, in the peace of Antalcidas, Sparta put the
finishing stroke to her treachery, by giving over the Greek
cities in Asia Minor to Persian dominion.
Lacedsemon had therefore, both by the oligarchies which it
had set up in various countries, and by the garrisons which it
maintained in some cities — as, e.g., Thebes — obtained a great
preponderance in Greece. But the Greek states were far more
incensed at Spartan oppression than they had previously been
at Athenian supremacy. With Thebes at their head, they cast
off the yoke, and the Thebans became for a moment the most
distinguished people in Hellas. But it was to two distinguished
THE GREEK WORLD 267
men among its citizens that Thebes owed its entire power —
Pelopidas and Epaminondas; as for the most part in that state
we find the Subjective preponderant. In accordance with this
principle, Lyrical Poetry — that which is the expression of sub-
jectivity — especially flourished there; a kind of subjective
amenity of nature shows itself also in the so-called Sacred
Legion which formed the kernel of the Theban host, and was
regarded as consisting of persons connected by amatory bonds
[amantes and amati] ; while the influence of subjectivity among
them was especially proved by the fact, that after the death of
Epaminondas, Thebes fell back into its former position. Weak-
ened and distracted, Greece could no longer find safety in itself,
and needed an authoritative prop. In the towns there were
incessant contests; the citizens were divided into factions, as
in the Italian cities of the Middle Ages. The victory of one
party entailed the banishment of the other; the latter then
usually applied to the enemies of their native city, to obtain
their aid in subjugating it by force of arms. The various States
could no longer co-exist peaceably: they prepared ruin for
each other, as well as for themselves.
We have, then, now to investigate the corruption of the Greek
world in its profounder import, and may denote the principle of
that corruption as subjectivity obtaining emancipation for itself.
We see Subjectivity obtruding itself in various ways. Thought
— the subjectively Universal — menaces the beautiful religion of
Greece, while the passions of individuals and their caprice men-
ace its political constitution. In short, Subjectivity, compre-
hending and manifesting itself, threatens the existing state of
things in every department — characterized as that state of
things is by Immediacy [a primitive, unreflecting simplicity].
Thought, therefore, appears here as the principle of decay —
decay, viz. of Substantial [prescriptive] morality ; for it intro-
duces an antithesis, and asserts essentially rational principles.
In the Oriental states, in which there is no such antithesis,
moral freedom cannot be realized, since the highest principle is
[Pure] Abstraction. But when Thought recognizes its positive
character, as in Greece, it estabishes principles; and these bear
to the real world the relation of Essence to Form. For the
concrete vitality found among the Greeks, is Customary Moral-
ity — a life for Religion, for the State, without further reflection,
and without analysis leading to abstract definitions, which must
268 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
lead away from the concrete embodiment of them, and occupy
an antithetical position to that embodiment. Law is part of
the existing state of things, with Spirit implicit in it. But as soon
as Thought arises, it investigates the various political constitu-
tions : as the result of its investigation it forms for itself an
idea of an improved state of society, and demands that this ideal
should take the place of things as they are.
In the principle of Greek Freedom, inasmuch as it is Free-
dom, is involved the self-emancipation of Thought. We ob-
served the dawn of Thought in the circle of men mentioned
above under their well-known appellation of the Seven Sages. It
was they who first uttered general propositions ; though at that
time wisdom consisted rather in a concrete insight [into things,
than in the power of abstract conception]. Parallel with the
advance in the development of Religious Art and with political
growth, we find a progressive strengthening of Thought, its
enemy and destroyer; and at the time of the Peloponnesian
War science was already developed. With the Sophists began
the process of reflection on the existing state of things, and of
ratiocination. That very diligence and activity which we ob-
served among the Greeks in their practical life, and in the
achievement of works of art, showed itself also in the turns and
windings which these ideas took ; so that, as material things are
changed, worked up and used for other than their original pur-
poses, similarly the essential being of Spirit — what is thought
and known — is variously handled; it is made an object about
which the mind can employ itself, and this occupation becomes
an interest in and for itself. The movement of Thought — that
which goes on within its sphere [without reference to an ex-
trinsic object] — a process which had formerly no interest — ac-
quires attractiveness on its own account. The cultivated Soph'
ists, who were not erudite or scientific men, but masters of subtle
turns of thought, excited the admiration of the Greeks. For all
questions they had an answer ; for all interests of a political or
religious order they had general points of view; and in the
ultimate development of their art, they claimed the ability to
prove everything, to discover a justifiable side in every position.
In a democracy it is a matter of the first importance, to be able
to speak in popular assemblies — to urge one's opinions on pub-
lic matters. Now this demands the power of duly presenting
before them that point of view which we desire them to regard
THE GREEK WORLD 269
as essential. For such a purpose, intellectual culture is needed,
and this discipline the Greeks acquired under their Sophists.
This mental culture then became the means, in the hands of
those who possessed it, of enforcing their views and interests
on the Demos : the expert Sophist knew how to turn the sub-
ject of discussion this way or that way at pleasure, and thus
the doors were thrown wide open to all human passions. A
leading principle of the Sophists was, that " Man is the measure
of all things " ; but in this, as in all their apophthegms, lurks an
ambiguity, since the term " Man " may denote Spirit in its depth
and truth, or in the aspect of mere caprice and private interest.
The Sophists meant Man simply as subjective, and intended in
this dictum of theirs, that mere liking was the principle of
Right, and that advantage to the individual was the ground of
final appeal. This Sophistic principle appears again and again,
though under different forms, in various periods of History;
thus even in our own times subjective opinion of what is right
— mere feeling — is made the ultimate ground of decision.
In Beauty, as the Greek principle, there was a concrete unity
of Spirit, united with Reality, with Country and Family, etc. In
this unity no fixed point of view had as yet been adopted within
the Spirit itself, and Thought, as far as it transcended this unity,
was still swayed by mere liking ; [the Beautiful, the Becoming
(to Trpeirov) conducted men in the path of moral propriety, but
apart from this they had no firm abstract principle of Truth and
Virtue]. But Anaxagoras himself had taught, that Thought
itself was the absolute Essence of the World. And it was in
Socrates, that at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, the
principle of subjectivity — of the absolute inherent independence
of Thought — attained free expression. He taught that man has
to discover and recognize in himself what is the Right and
Good, and that this Right and Good is in its nature universal.
Socrates is celebrated as a Teacher of Morality, but we should
rather call him the Inventor of Morality. The Greeks had a
customary morality ; but Socrates undertook to teach them what
moral virtues, duties, etc. were. The moral man is not he who
merely wills and does that which is right — not the merely inno-
cent man — but he who has the consciousness of what he is
doing.
Socrates — in assigning to insight, to conviction, the deter-
mination of men's actions — posited the Individual as capable
270 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
of a final moral decision, in contraposition to Country and to
Customary Morality, and thus made himself an Oracle, in the
Greek sense. He said that he had a Bcujaoviov within him, which
counselled him what to do, and revealed to him what was ad-
vantageous to his friends. The rise of the inner world of Sub-
jectivity was the rupture with the existing Reality. Though
Socrates himself continued to perform his duties as a citizen,
it was not the actual State and its religion, but the world of
Thought that was his true home. Now the question of the ex-
istence and nature of the gods came to be discussed. The dis-
ciple of Socrates, Plato, banished from his ideal state, Homer
and Hesiod, the originators of that mode of conceiving of relig-
ious objects which prevailed among the Greeks ; for he desid-
erated a higher conception of what was to be reverenced as
divine — one more in harmony with Thought. Many citizens
now seceded from practical and political life, to live in the ideal
world. The principle of Socrates manifests a revolutionary
aspects towards the Athenian State ; for the peculiarity of this
State was, that Customary Morality was the form in which its
existence was moulded, viz. — an inseparable connection of
Thought with actual life. When Socrates wishes to induce his
friends to reflection, the discourse has always a negative tone ;
he brings them to the consciousness that they do not know
what the Right is. But when on account of the giving utterance
to that principle which was advancing to recognition, Socrates
is condemned to death, the sentence bears on the one hand the
aspect of unimpeachable rectitude — inasmuch as the Athenian
people condemns its deadliest foe — but on the other hand, that
of a deeply tragical character, inasmuch as the Athenians had to
make the discovery, that what they reprobated in Socrates had
already struck firm root among themselves, and that they must
be pronounced guilty or innocent with him. With this feeling
they condemned the accusers of Socrates, and declared him
guiltless. In Athens that higher principle which proved the
ruin of the Athenian state, advanced in its development without
intermission. Spirit had acquired the propensity to gain sat-
isfaction for itself — to reflect. Even in decay the Spirit of
Athens appears majestic, because it manifests itself as the free,
the liberal — exhibiting its successive phases in their pure
idiosyncrasy — in that form in which they really exist. Amiable
and cheerful even in the midst of tragedy is the light-hearted-
THE GREEK WORLD 271
ness and nonchalance with which the Athenians accompany
their [national] morality to its grave. We recognize the higher
interest of the new culture in the fact that the people made them-
selves merry over their own follies, and found great entertain-
ment in the comedies of Aristophanes, which have the severest
satire for their contents, while they bear the stamp of the most
unbridled mirth.
In Sparta the same corruption is introduced, since the social
unit seeks to assert his individuality against the moral life of
the community : but there we have merely the isolated side of
particular subjectivity — corruption in its undisguised form,
blank immorality, vulgar selfishness and venality. All these
passions manifest themselves in Sparta, especially in the per-
sons of its generals, who, for the most part living at a distance
from their country, obtain an opportunity of securing advan-
tages at the expense of their own state as well as of those to
whose assistance they are sent.
The Macedonian Empire
After the fall of Athens, Sparta took upon herself the Hege-
mony; but misused it — as already mentioned — so selfishly,
that she was universally hated. Thebes could not long sustain
the part of humiliating Sparta, and was at last exhausted in the
war with the Phocians. The Spartans and the Phocians — ■
the former because they had surprised the citadel of Thebes, the
latter because they had tilled a piece of land belonging to the
Delphin Apollo — had been sentenced to pay considerable sums
of money. Both states however refused payment ; for the Am-
phictyonic Council had not much more authority than the old
German Diet, which the German princes obeyed only so far as
suited their inclination. The Phocians were then to be pun-
ished by the Thebans ; but by an egregious piece of violence —
by desecrating and plundering the temple at Delphi — the former
attained momentary superiority. This deed completes the ruin
of Greece ; the sanctuary was desecrated, the god so to speak,
killed ; the last support of unity was thereby annihilated ; rev-
erence for that which in Greece had been as it were always the
final arbiter — its monarchical principle — was displaced, in-
sulted, and trodden under foot.
The next step in advance is then that quite simple one, that
the place of the dethroned oracle should be taken by another
873
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
deciding will — a real authoritative royalty. The foreign Mace-
donian King — Philip — undertook to avenge the violation of the
oracle, and forthwith took its place, by making himself lord of
Greece. Philip reduced under his dominion the Hellenic States,
and convinced them that it was all over with their independence,
and that they could no longer maintain their own footing. The
charge of littleness, harshness, violence, and political treachery
— all those hateful characteristics with which Philip has so often
been reproached — did not extend to the young Alexander, when
he placed himself at the head of the Greeks. He had no need
to incur such reproaches ; he had not to form a military force,
for he found one already in existence. As he had only to mount
Bucephalus, and take the rein in hand, to make him obsequious
to his will, just so he found that Macedonian phalanx prepared
for his purpose — that rigid well-trained iron mass, the power
of which had been demonstrated under Philip, who copied it
from Epaminondas.
Alexander had been educated by the deepest and also the
most comprehensive thinker of antiquity — Aristotle ; and the
education was worthy of the man who had undertaken it. Alex-
ander was initiated into the profoundest metaphysics: there-
fore his nature was thoroughly refined and liberated from the
customary bonds of mere opinion, crudities and idle fancies.
Aristotle left this grand nature as untrammelled as it was before
his instructions commenced ; but impressed upon it a deep per-
ception of what the True is, and formed the spirit which nature
had so richly endowed to a plastic being, rolling freely like an
orb through its circumambient ether.
Thus accomplished, Alexander placed himself at the head of
the Hellenes, in order to lead Greece over into Asia. A youth
of twenty, he commanded a thoroughly experienced army,
whose generals were all veterans, well versed in the art of war.
It was Alexander's aim to avenge Greece for all that Asia had
inflicted upon it for so many years, and to fight out at last the
ancient feud and contest between the East and the West. While
in this struggle he retaliated upon the Oriental world what
Greece had suffered from it, he also made a return for the rudi-
ments of culture which had been derived thence by spreading
the maturity and culmination of that culture over the East;
and, as it were, changed the stamp of subjugated Asia and
assimilated it to a Hellenic land. The grandeur and the inter-
THE GREEK WORLD . 273
est of this work were proportioned to his genius — to his pecu-
liar youthful individuality — the like of which in so beautiful a
form we have not seen a second time at the head of such an
undertaking. For not only were the genius of a commander,
the greatest spirit, and consummate bravery united in him, but
all these qualities were dignified by the beauty of his character
as a man and an individual. Though his generals were devoted
to him, they had been the long tried servants of his father;
and this made his position difficult: for his greatness and
youth was a humiliation to them, as inclined to regard them-
selves and the achievements of the past, as a complete work;
so that while their envy, as in Clitus's case, arose to blind rage,
Alexander also was excited to great violence.
Alexander's expedition to Asia was at the same time a jour-
ney of discovery ; for it was he who first opened the Oriental
World to the Europeans, and penetrated into countries — as
e.g. Bactria, Sogdiana, northern India — which have since been
hardly visited by Europeans. The arrangement of the march,
and not less the military genius displayed in the disposition of
battles, and in tactics generally, will always remain an object
of admiration. He was great as a commander in battles, wise
in conducting marches and marshalling troops, and the bravest
soldier in the thick of the fight. Even the death of Alexander,
which occurred at Babylon in the three-and-thirtieth year of his
age, gives us a beautiful spectacle of his greatness, and shows
m what relation he stood to his army : for he takes leave of it
with the perfect consciousness of his dignity.
Alexander had the good fortune to die at the proper time;
i.e. it may be called good fortune, but it is rather a necessity.
That he may stand before the eyes of posterity as a youth, an
early death must hurry him away. Achilles, as remarked above,
begins the Greek world, and his autotype Alexander concludes
it : and these youths not only supply a picture of the fairest kind
in their own persons, but at the same time afford a complete and
perfect type of Hellenic existence. Alexander finished his work
and completed his ideal; and thus bequeathed to the world
one of the noblest and most brilliant of visions, which our poor
reflections only serve to obscure. For the great World-His-
torical form of Alexander, the modern standard applied by re-
cent historical " Philistines " — that of virtue or morality — will
by no means suffice. And if it be alleged in depreciation of his
274 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
merit, that he had no successor, and left behind no dynasty, we
may remark that the Greek kingdoms that arose in Asia after
him, are his dynasty. For two years he was engaged in a cam-
paign in Bactria, which brought him into contact with the Mas-
sagetse and Scythians; and there arose the Graeco-Bactrian
kingdom which lasted for two centuries. Thence the Greeks
came into connection with India, and even with China. The
Greek dominion spread itself over northern India, and San-
drokottus (Chandraguptas) is mentioned as the first who eman-
cipated himself from it. The same name presents itself indeed
among the Hindoos, but for reasons already stated, we can
place very little dependence upon such mention. Other Greek
Kingdoms arose in Asia Minor, in Armenia, in Syria and Baby-
lonia. But Egypt especially, among the kingdoms of the suc-
cessors of Alexander, became a great centre of science and art ;
for a great number of its architectural works belong to the time
of the Ptolemies, as has been made out from the deciphered in-
scriptions. Alexandria became the chief centre of commerce —
the point of union for Eastern manners and tradition with West-
ern civilization. Besides these, the Macedonian Kingdom, that
of Thrace, stretching beyond the Danube, that of Illyria, and
that of Epirus, flourished under the sway of Greek princes.
Alexander was also extraordinarily attached to the sciences,
and he is celebrated as next to Pericles the most liberal patron
of the arts. Meier says in his " History of Art," that his intelli-
gent love of art would have secured him an immortality of
fame not less than his conquests.
SECTION III
THE FALL OF THE GREEK SPIRIT
THIS third period in the history of the Hellenic World,
which embraces the protracted development of the evil
destiny of Greece, interests us less. Those who had been
Alexander's Generals, now assuming an independent appearance
on the stage of history as Kings, carried on long wars with each
other, and experienced, almost all of them, the most romantic
revolutions of fortune. Especially remarkable and prominent
in this respect is the life of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
In Greece the States had preserved their existence : brought
to a consciousness of their weakness by Philip and Alexander,
they contrived to enjoy an apparent vitality, and boasted of an
unreal independence. That self-consciousness which inde-
pendence confers, they could not have; and diplomatic statesmen
took the lead in the several States — orators who were not at the
same time generals, as was the case formerly — e.g. in the person
of Pericles. The countries of Greece now assume various rela-
tions to the different monarchs, who continued to contend for
the sovereignty of the Greek States — partly also for their favor,
especially for that of Athens : for Athens still presented an im-
posing figure — if not as a Power, yet certainly as the centre of
the higher arts and sciences, especially of Philosophy and Rhet-
oric. Besides it kept itself more free from the gross excess,
coarseness and passions which prevailed in the other States, and
made them contemptible ; and the Syrian and Egyptian kings
deemed it an honor to make Athens large presents of corn and
other useful supplies. To some extent too the kings of the
period reckoned it their greatest glory to render and to keep
the Greek cities and states independent. The Emancipation of
Greece had as it were, become the general watch-word ; and it
passed for a high title of fame to be called the Deliverer of
Greece. If we examine the hidden political bearing of this word,
275
Vol. 23 M _ Classics
276 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
we shall find that it denotes the prevention of any indigenous
Greek State from obtaining decided superiority, and keeping
all in a state of weakness by separation and disorganization.
The special peculiarity by which each Greek State was dis-
tinguished from the others consisted in a difference similar to
that of their glorious divinities, each one of whom has his par-
ticular character and peculiar being, yet so that this peculiarity
does not derogate from the divinity common to all. When
therefore, this divinity has become weak and has vanished from
the States, nothing but the bare particularity remains — the
repulsive speciality which obstinately and waywardly asserts
itself, and which on that very account assumes a position of
absolute dependence and of conflict with others. Yet the feel-
ing of weakness and misery led to combinations here and there.
The Mtolians and their allies as a predatory people, set up in-
justice, violence, fraud, and insolence to others, as their char-
ter of rights. Sparta was governed by infamous tyrants and
odious passions, and in this condition was dependent on the
Macedonian Kings. The Boeotian subjective character had,
after the extinction of Theban glory, sunk down into indolence
and the vulgar desire of coarse sensual enjoyment. The Achaean
league distinguished itself by the aim of its union (the expulsion
of Tyrants,) by rectitude and the sentiment of community. But
this too was obliged to take refuge in the most complicated
policy. What we see here on the whole is a diplomatic condi-
tion — an infinite involvement with the most manifold foreign
interests — a subtle intertexture and play of parties, whose
threads are continually being combined anew.
In the internal condition of the states, which, enervated by
selfishness and debauchery, were broken up into factions — each
of which on the other hand directs its attention to foreign lands,
and with treachery to its native country begs for the favors of
the Kings — the point of interest is no longer the fate of these
states, but the great individuals, who arise amid the general
corruption, and honorably devote themselves to their country.
They appear as great tragic characters, who with their genius,
and the most intense exertion, are yet unable to extirpate the
evils in question ; and perish in the struggle, without having
had the satisfaction of restoring to their fatherland repose, order
and freedom, nay, even without having secured a reputation
with posterity free from all stain. Livy says in his prefatory
THE GREEK WORLD 277
remarks : " In our times we can neither endure our faults nor
the means of correcting them." And this is quite as applicable
to these Last of the Greeks, who began an undertaking which
was as honorable and noble, as it was sure of being frustrated.
Agis and Cleomenes, Aratus and Philopcemen, thus sunk under
the struggle for the good of their nation. Plutarch sketches for
us a highly characteristic picture of these times, in giving us a
representation of the importance of individuals during their
continuance.
The third period of the history of the Greeks brings us to
their contact with that people which was to play the next part
on the theatre of the World's History ; and the chief excuse
for this contact was — as pretexts had previously been — the
liberation of Greece. After Perseus the last Macedonian King,
in the year 168 b.c. had been conquered by the Romans and
brought in triumph to Rome, the Achaean league was attacked
and broken up, and at last in the year 146 B.C. Corinth was
destroyed. Looking at Greece as Polybius describes it, we
see how a noble nature such as his, has nothing left for it but
to despair at the state of affairs and to retreat into Philosophy ;
or if it attempts to act, can only die in the struggle. In deadly
contraposition to the multiform variety of passion which
Greece presents — that distracted condition which whelms good
and evil in one common ruin — Stands a blind fate — an iron
power ready to show up that degraded condition in all its
weakness, and to dash it to pieces in miserable ruin ; for cure,
amendment, and consolation are impossible. And this crush-
ing Destiny is the Roman power.
PART III
THE ROMAN WORLD
NAPOLEON, in a conversation which he once had with
Goethe on the nature of Tragedy, expressed the opin-
ion that its modern phase differed from the ancient,
through our no longer recognizing a Destiny to which men are
absolutely subject, and that Policy occupies the place of the
ancient Fate [La politique est la fatalite]. This therefore he
thought must be used as the modern form of Destiny in Trag-
edy — the irresistible power of circumstances to which individ-
uality must bend. Such a power is the Roman World, chosen
for the very purpose of casting the moral units into bonds, as
also of collecting all Deities and all Spirits into the Pantheon
of Universal dominion, in order to make out of them an ab-
stract universality of power. The distinction between the
Roman and the Persian principle is exactly this — that the former
stifles all vitality, while the latter allowed of its existence in the
fullest measure. Through its being the aim of the State, that
the social units in their moral life should be sacrificed to it, the
world is sunk in melancholy : its heart is broken, and it is all
over with the Natural side of Spirit, which has sunk into a feel-
ing of unhappiness. Yet only from this feeling could arise the
supersensuous, the free Spirit in Christianity.
In the Greek principle we have seen spiritual existence in its
exhilaration — its cheerfulness and enjoyment: Spirit had not
yet drawn back into abstraction ; it was still involved with the
Natural element — the idiosyncrasy of individuals ; — on which
account the virtues of individuals themselves became moral
works of art. Abstract universal Personality had not yet ap-
peared, for Spirit must first develop itself to that form of abstract
Universality which exercised the severe discipline over human-
ity now under consideration. Here, in Rome, then, we find that
278
THE ROMAN WORLD 279
free universality, that abstract Freedom, which on the one hand
sets an abstract state, a political constitution and power, over
concrete individuality; on the other side creates a personality
in opposition to that universality — the inherent freedom of the
abstract Ego, which must be distinguished from individual
idiosyncrasy. For Personality constitutes the fundamental con-
dition of legal Right : it appears chiefly in the category of Prop-
erty, but it is indifferent to the concrete characteristics of the
living Spirit with which individuality is concerned. These two
elements, which constitute Rome — political Universality on the
one hand, and the abstract freedom of the individual on the
other — appear, in the first instance, in the form of Subjectivity.
This Subjectivity — this retreating into one's self which we ob-
served as the corruption of the Greek Spirit — becomes here the
ground on which a new side of the World's History arises. In
considering the Roman World, we have not to do with a con-
cretely spiritual life, rich in itself ; but the world-historical ele-
ment in it is the abstr actum of Universality, and the object which
is pursued with soulless and heartless severity, is mere dominion,
in order to enforce that abstractum.
In Greece, Democracy was the fundamental condition of po-
litical life, as in the East, Despotism; here we have Aristocracy
of a rigid order, in a state of opposition to the people. In Greece
also the Democracy was rent asunder, but only in the way of
factions ; in Rome it is principles that keep the entire com-
munity in a divided state — they occupy a hostile position
towards, and struggle with each other: first the Aristocracy
with the Kings, then the Plebs with the Aristocracy, till De-
mocracy gets the upper hand ; then first arise factions in which
originated that later aristocracy of commanding individuals
which subjugated the world. It is this dualism that, properly
speaking, marks Rome's inmost being.
Erudition has regarded the Roman History from various
points of view, and has adopted very different and opposing
opinions : this is especially the case with the more ancient part
of the history, which has been taken up by three different classes
of literati — Historians, Philologists, and Jurists. The His-
torians hold to the grand features, and show respect for the
history as such ; so that we may after all see our way best under
their guidance, since they allow the validity of the records in
the case of leading events. It is otherwise with the Philologists,
2 8o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
by whom generally received traditions are less regarded, ancf
who devote more attention to small details which can be com-
bined in various ways. These combinations gain a footing first
as historical hypotheses, but soon after as established facts.
To the same degree as the Philologists in their department,
have the Jurists in that of Roman law, instituted the minutest
examination and involved their inferences with hypothesis.
The result is that the most ancient part of Roman History has
been declared to be nothing but fable ; so that this department
of inquiry is brought entirely within the province of learned
criticism, which always finds the most to do where the least is
to be got for the labor. While on the one side the poetry and
the myths of the Greeks are said to contain profound historical
truths, and are thus transmuted into history, the Romans on the
contrary have myths and poetical views affiliated upon them ;
and epopees are affirmed to be at the basis of what has been
hitherto taken for prosaic and historical.
With these preliminary remarks we proceed to describe the
Locality.
The Roman World has its centre in Italy ; which is extremely
similar to Greece, and, like it, forms a peninsula, only not so
deeply indented. Within this country, the city of Rome itself
formed the centre of the centre. Napoleon in his Memoirs takes
up the question, which city — if Italy were independent and
formed a totality — would be best adapted for its capital. Rome,
Venice, and Milan may put forward claims to the honor; but
it is immediately evident that none of these cities would supply
a centre. Northern Italy constitutes a basin of the river Po,
and is quite distinct from the body of the peninsula; Venice
is connected only with Higher Italy, not with the south ; Rome,
on the other hand, would, perhaps, be naturally a centre for
Middle and Lower Italy, but only artificially and violently for
those lands which were subjected to it in Higher Italy. The
Roman State rests geographically, as well as historically, on the
element of force.
The locality of Italy, then, presents no natural unity — as the
valley of the Nile; the unity was similar to that which Mace-
donia by its sovereignty gave to Greece; though Italy wanted
that permeation by one spirit, which Greece possessed through
equality of culture; for it was inhabited by very various races.
Niebuhr has prefaced his Roman history by a profoundly erudite
THE ROMAN WORLD 281
treatise on the peoples of Italy; but from which no connection
between them and the Roman History is visible. In fact,
Niebuhr's History can only be regarded as a criticism of Roman
History, for it consists of a series of treatises which by no means
possess the unity of history.
We observed subjective inwardness as the general principle
of the Roman World. The course of Roman History, therefore,
involves the expansion of undeveloped subjectivity — inward
conviction of existence — to the visibility of the real world. The
principle of subjective inwardness receives positive application
in the first place only from without — through the particular voli-
tion of the sovereignty, the government, etc. The development
consists in the purification of inwardness to abstract personality,
which gives itself reality in the existence of private property;
the mutually repellent social units can then be held together only
by despotic power. The general course of the Roman World
may be defined as this; the transition from the inner sanctum
of subjectivity to its direct opposite. The development is here
not of the same kind as that in Greece — the unfolding and ex-
panding of its own substance on the part of the principle; but
it is the transition to its opposite, which latter does not appear as
an element of corruption, but is demanded and posited by the
principle itself. — As to the particular sections of the Roman
History, the common division is that into the Monarchy, the Re-
public, and the Empire — as if in these forms different principles
made their appearance; but the same principle — that of the
Roman Spirit — underlies their development. In our division,
we must rather keep in view the course of History generally.
The annals of every World-historical people were divided above
into three periods, and this statement must prove itself true in
this case also. The first period comprehends the rudiments of
Rome, in which the elements which are essentially opposed, still
repose in calm unity; until the contrarieties have acquired
strength, and the unity of the State becomes a powerful one,
through that antithetical condition having been produced and
maintained within it. In this vigorous condition the State
directs its forces outwards — i.e., in the second period — and makes
its debut on the theatre of general history; this is the noblest
period of Rome — the Punic Wars and the contact with the ante-
cedent World-Historical people. A wider stage is opened,
towards the East; the history at the epoch of this contact has
28a PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
been treated by the noble Polybius. The Roman Empire now
acquired that world-conquering extension which paved the way
for its fall. Internal distraction supervened, while the antithesis
was developing itself to self-contradiction and utter incompati-
bility; it closes with Despotism, which marks the third period.
The Roman power appears here in its pomp and splendor; but
it is at the same time profoundly ruptured within itself, and the
Christian Religion, which begins with the imperial dominion,
receives a great extension. The third period comprises the con-
tact of Rome with the North and the German peoples, whose
turn is now come to play their part in History.
SECTION I
ROME TO THE TIME OF THE SECOND PUNIC
WAR
Chapter I. — The Elements of the Roman Spirit
BEFORE we come to the Roman History, we have to con-
sider the Elements of the Roman Spirit in general, and
mention and investigate the origin of Rome with a ref-
erence to them. Rome arose outside recognised countries, viz.,
in an angle where three different districts met — those of the
Latins, Sabines and Etruscans; it was not formed from some
ancient stem, connected by natural patriarchal bonds, whose
origin might be traced up to remote times (as seems to have
been the case with the Persians, who, however, even then ruled
a large empire); but Rome was from the very beginning, of
artificial and violent, not spontaneous growth. It is related that
the descendants of the Trojans, led by yEneas to Italy, founded
Rome; for the connection with Asia was a much cherished
tradition, and there are in Italy, France, and Germany itself
(Xanten) many towns which refer their origin, or their names,
to the fugitive Trojans. Livy speaks of the ancient tribes of
Rome, the Ramnenses, Titienses, and Luceres. Now if we look
upon these as distinct nations, and assert that they were really
the elements from which Rome was formed — a view which in
recent times has very often striven to obtain currency — we di-
rectly subvert the historical tradition. All historians agree that
at an early period, shepherds, under the leadership of chieftains,
roved about on the hills of Rome; that the first Roman com-
munity constituted itself as a predatory state; and that it was
with difficulty that the scattered inhabitants of the vicinity were
thus united. The details of these circumstances are also given
Those predatory shepherds received every contribution to their
community that chose to join them (Livy calls it a colluvies).
The rabble of all the three districts between which Rome lay, was
283
284 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
collected in the new city. The historians state that this point
was very well chosen on a hill close to the river, and particularly
adapted to make it an asylum for all delinquents. It is equally
historical that in the newly formed state there were no women,
and that the neighboring states would enter into no connubia
with it: both circumstances characterize it as predatory union,
with which the other states wished to have no connection. They
also refused the invitation to their religious festivals; and only
the Sabines — a simple agricultural people, among whom, as
Livy says, prevailed a tristis atque tetrica supcrstitio — partly from
superstition, partly from fear, presented themselves at them.
The seizure of the Sabine women is also a universally received
historical fact. This circumstance itself involves a very char-
acteristic feature, viz., that Religion is used as a means for
furthering the purposes of the infant State. Another method
of extension was the conveying to Rome of the inhabitants of
neighboring and conquered towns. At a later date there was
also a voluntary migration of foreigners to Rome; as in the case
of the so celebrated family of the Claudii, bringing their whole
clientela. The Corinthian Demaratus, belonging to a family of
consideration, had settled in Etruria; but as being an exile and a
foreigner, he was little respected there, and his son, Lucumo,
could no longer endure this degradation. He betook himself to
Rome, says Livy, because a new people and a repentin a atque ex
virtute nobilitas were to be found there. Lucumo attained, we
are told, such a degree of respect, that he afterwards became
king.
It is this peculiarity in the founding of the State which must
be regarded as the essential basis of the idiosyncrasy of Rome.
For it directly involves the severest discipline, and self-sacrifice
to the grand object of the union. A State which had first to
form itself, and which is based on force, must be held together
by force. It is not a moral, liberal connection, but a compulsory
condition of subordination, that results from such an origin.
The Roman virtus is valor; not, however, the merely personal,
but that which is essentially connected with a union of associ-
ates; which union is regarded as the supreme interest, and may
be combined with lawless violence of all kinds. While the
Romans formed a union of this kind, they were not, indeed, like
the Lacedaemonians, engaged in an internal contest with a
conquered and subjugated people; but there arose a distinction
THE ROMAN WORLD 285
and a struggle between Patricians and Plebeians. This distinc-
tion was mythically adumbrated in the hostile brothers, Romu-
lus and Remus. Remus was buried on the Aventine mount;
this is consecrated to the eVil genii, and to it are directed the
Secessions of the Plebs. The question comes, then, how this
distinction originated ? It has been already said, that Rome was
formed by robber-herdsmen, and the concourse of rabble of all
sorts. At a later date, the inhabitants of captured and destroyed
towns were also conveyed thither. The weaker, the poorer, the
later additions of population are naturally underrated by, and
in a condition of dependence upon those who originally founded
the state, and those who were distinguished by valor, and also by
wealth. It is not necessary, therefore, to take refuge in a hy-
pothesis which has recently been a favorite one — that the Patri-
cians formed a particular race.
The dependence of the Plebeians on the Patricians is often
represented as a perfectly legal relation — indeed, even a sacred
one ; since the Patricians had the sacra in their hands, while the
plebs would have been godless, as it were, without them. The
Plebeians left to the Patricians their hypocritical stuff (ad de-
cipiendam plebem, Cic.) and cared nothing for their sacra and
auguries ; but in disjoining political rights from these ritual ob-
servances, and making good their claim to those rights, they,
were no more guilty of a presumptuous sacrilege than the
Protestants, when they emancipated the political power of the
State, and asserted the freedom of conscience. The light in
which, as previously stated, we must regard the relation of the
Patricians and Plebeians is, that those who were poor, and con-
sequently helpless, were compelled to attach themselves to the
richer and more respectable, and to seek for their patrocinium:
in this relation of protection on the part of the more wealthy, the
protected are called clientes. But we find very soon a fresh dis-
tinction between the plebs and the clientes. In the contentions
between the Patricians and the Plebeians, the clientes held to
their patroni, though belonging to the plebs as decidedly as any
class. That this relation of the clientes had not the stamp of
right and law is evident from the fact, that with the introduction
and knowledge of the laws among all classes, the cliental rela-
tion gradually vanished ; for as soon as individuals found pro-
tection in the law, the temporary necessity for it could not but
cease.
286 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
In the first predatory period of the state, every citizen was
necessarily a soldier, for the state was based on war ; this burden
was oppressive, since every citizen was obliged to maintain
himself in the field. This circumstance, therefore, gave rise to
the contracting of enormous debts — the Patricians becoming
the creditors of the Plebeians. With the introduction of laws,
this arbitrary relation necessarily ceased; but only gradually,
for the Patricians were far from being immediately inclined to
release the plebs from the cliental relation ; they rather strove to
render it permanent. The laws of the Twelve Tables still con-
tained much that was undefined ; very much was still left to the
arbitrary will of the judge — the Patricians alone being judges;
the antithesis, therefore, between Patricians and Plebeians, con-
tinues till a much later period. Only by degrees do the Plebe-
ians scale all the heights of official station, and attain those
privileges which formerly belonged to the Patricians alone.
In the life of the Greeks, although it did not any more than
that of the Romans originate in the patriarchal relation, Family
love and the Family tie appeared at its very commencement, and
the peaceful aim of their social existence had for its necessary
condition the extirpation of freebooters both by sea and land.
The founders of Rome, on the contrary — Romulus and Remus
— are, according to the tradition, themselves freebooters — repre-
sented as from their earliest days thrust out from the Family,
and as having grown up in a state of isolation from family affec-
tion. In like manner, the first Romans are said to have got their
wives, not by free courtship and reciprocated inclination, but
by force. This commencement of the Roman life in savage rude-
ness excluding the sensibilities of natural morality, brings with
it one characteristic element — harshness in respect to the family
relation ; a selfish harshness, which constituted the fundamental
condition of Roman manners and laws, as we observe them in
the sequel. We thus find family relations among the Romans
not as a beautiful, free relation of love and feeling; the place
of confidence is usurped by the principle of severity, dependence,
and subordination. Marriage, in its strict and formal shape,
bore quite the aspect of a mere contract ; the wife was part of
the husband's property (in manum conventio), and the marriage
ceremony was based on a cocmtio, in a form such as might have
been adopted on the occasion of any other purchase. The hus-
band acquired a power over his wife, such as he had over his
THE ROMAN WORLD 287
daughter ; nor less over her property ; so that everything which
she gained, she gained for her husband. During the good times
of the republic, the celebration of marriages included a religious
ceremony — confarreatio — but which was omitted at a later
period. The husband obtained not less power than by the
coemtio, when he married according to the form called usus,
that is, when the wife remained in the house of her husband
without having been absent a trinoctium in a year. • If the
husband had not married in one of the forms of the in manum
conventio, the wife remained either in the power of her father,
or under the guardianship of her agnates, and was free as re-
garded her husband. The Roman matron, therefore, obtained
honor and dignity only through independence of her husband,
instead of acquiring her honor through her husband and by
marriage. If a husband who had married under the freer con-
dition — that is, when the union was not consecrated by the con-
farreatio — wished to separate from his wife, he dismissed her
without further ceremony. The relation of sons was perfectly
similar : they were, on the one hand, about as dependent on the
paternal power as the wife on the matrimonial ; they could not
possess property — it made no difference whether they filled a
high office in the State or not (though the peculia castrensia,
and adventitia were differently regarded) ; but on the other
hand, when they were emancipated, they had no connection with
their father and their family. An evidence of the degree in
which the position of children was regarded as analogous to
that of slaves, is presented in the imaginaria servitus (mancip-
ium), through which emancipated children had to pass. In ref-
erence to inheritance, morality would seem to demand that chil-
dren should share equally. Among the Romans, on the con-
trary, testamentary caprice manifests itself in its harshest form.
Thus perverted and demoralized, do we here see the funda-
mental relations of ethics. The immoral active severity of the
Romans in this private side of character, necessarily finds its
counterpart in the passive severity of their political union. For
the severity which the Roman experienced from the State he
was compensated by a severity, identical in nature, which he
was allowed to indulge towards his family — a servant on the one
side, a despot on the other. This constitutes the Roman great-
ness, whose peculiar characteristic was stern inflexibility in the
union of individuals with the State, and with its law and man-
288 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
date. In order to obtain a nearer view of this Spirit, we must
not merely keep in view the actions of Roman heroes, confront-
ing the enemy as soldiers or generals, or appearing as ambassa-
dors — since in these cases they belong, with their whole mind
and thought, only to the state and its mandate, without hesita-
tion or yielding — but pay particular attention also to the con-
duct of the plebs in times of revolt against the patricians. How
often in insurrection and in anarchical disorder was the plebs
brought back into a state of tranquillity by a mere form, and
cheated of the fulfilment of its demands, righteous or unright-
eous! How often was a Dictator, e.g., chosen by the senate,
when there was neither war nor danger from an enemy, in order
to get the plebeians into the army, and to bind them to strict
obedience by the military oath! It took Licinius ten years to
carry laws favorable to the plebs ; the latter allowed itself to be
kept back by the mere formality of the veto on the part of other
tribunes, and still more patiently did it wait for the long-delayed
execution of these laws. It may be asked : By what were such a
disposition and character produced? Produced it cannot be, but
it is essentially latent in the origination of the State from that
primal robber-community, as also in tfce idiosyncrasy of the peo-
ple who composed it, and lastly, in that phase of the World-
Spirit which was just ready for development. The elements of
the Roman people were Etruscan, Latin and Sabine; these
must have contained an inborn natural adaptation to produce
the Roman Spirit. Of the spirit, the character, and the life of
the ancient Italian peoples we know very little — thanks to the
non-intelligent character of Roman historiography! — and that
little, for the most part, from the Greek writers on Roman his-
tory. But of the general character of the Romans we may say
that, in contrast with that primeval wild poetry and transmuta-
tion of the finite, which we observe in the East — in contrast with
the beautiful, harmonious poetry and well-balanced freedom of
Spirit among the Greeks — here, among the Romans the prose
of life makes its appearance — the self-consciousness of finiteness
— the abstraction of the Understanding and a rigorous principle
of personality, which even in the Family does not expand itself
to natural morality, but remains the unfeeling non-spiritual
unit, and recognizes the uniting bond of the several social units
only in abstract universality.
This extreme prose of the Spirit we find in Etruscan art,
THE ROMAN WORLD 289
which though technically perfect and so far true to nature, has
nothing of Greek Ideality and Beauty: we also observe it in the
development of Roman Law and in the Roman religion.
To the constrained, non-spiritual, and unfeeling intelligence
of the Roman world we owe the origin and the development of
positive law,. For we saw above, how in the East, relations in
their very nature belonging to the sphere of outward or inward
morality, were made legal mandates; even among the Greeks,
morality was at the same time juristic right, and on that very
account the constitution was entirely dependent on morals and
disposition, and had not yet a fixity of principle within it, to
counterbalance the mutability of men's inner life and individual
subjectivity. The Romans then completed this important sepa-
ration, and discovered a principle of right, which is external —
i.e. one not dependent on disposition and sentiment. While they
have thus bestowed upon us a valuable gift, in point of form, we
can use and enjoy it without becoming victims to that sterile
Understanding — without regarding it as the ne plus ultra of
Wisdom and Reason. They were its victims, living beneath its
sway ; but they thereby secured for others Freedom of Spirit —
viz., that inward Freedom which has consequently become
emancipated from the sphere of the Limited and the External.
Spirit, Soul, Disposition, Religion have now no longer to fear
being involved with that abstract juristical Understanding. Art
too has its external side; when in Art the mechanical side has
been brought to perfection, Free Art can arise and display itself.
But those must be pitied who knew of nothing but that me-
chanical side, and desired nothing further; as also those who,
when Art has arisen, still regard the Mechanical as the highest.
We see the Romans thus bound up in that abstract under-
standing which pertains to finiteness. This is their highest char-
acteristic, consequently also their highest consciousness, in Re-
ligion. In fact, constraint was the religion of the Romans;
among the Greeks, on the contrary, it was the cheerfulness of
free fantasy. We are accustomed to regard Greek and Roman
religion as the same, and use the names Jupiter, Minerva, etc.
as Roman deities, often without distinguishing them from those
of Greeks. This is admissible inasmuch as the Greek divinities
were more or less introduced among the Romans; but as the
Egyptian religion is by no means to be regarded as identical
with the Greek, merely because Herodotus and the Greeks form
2 9 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
to themselves an idea of the Egyptian divinities under the names
" Latona," " Pallas," etc., so neither must the Roman be con-
founded with the Greek. We have said that in the Greek re-
ligion the thrill of awe suggested by Nature was fully developed
to something Spiritual — to a free conception, a spiritual form of
fancy — that the Greek Spirit did not remain in the condition of
inward fear, but proceeded to make the relation borne to man by
Nature, a relation of freedom and cheerfulness. The Romans,
on the contrary, remained satisfied with a dull, stupid subjectiv-
ity; consequently, the external was only an Object — something
alien, something hidden. The Roman spirit which thus re-
mained involved in subjectivity, came into a relation of con-
straint and dependence, to which the origin of the word " re-
ligio " (lig-are) points. The Roman had always to do with
something secret; in everything he believed in and sought for
something concealed; and while in the Greek religion every-
thing is open and clear, present to sense and contemplation—
not pertaining to a future world, but something friendly, and of
this world — among the Romans everything exhibits itself as
mysterious, duplicate: they saw in the object first itself, and
then that which lies concealed in it: their history is pervaded
by this duplicate mode of viewing phenomena. The city of
Rome had besides its proper name another secret one, known
only to a few. It is believed by some to have been " Valentia,"
the Latin translation of " Roma "; others think it was " Amor "
(" Roma " read backwards). Romulus, the founder of the State,
had also another, a sacred name — " Quirinus " — by which title
he was worshipped : the Romans too were also called Quirites.
(This name is connected with the term " curia " : in tracing its
etymology the name of the Sabine town " Cures," has been had
recourse to.)
Among the Romans the religious thrill of awe remained unde-
veloped; it was shut up to the mere subjective certainty of its
own existence. Consciousness has therefore given itself no
spiritual objectivity — has not elevated itself to the theoretical
contemplation of the eternally divine nature, and to freedom in
that contemplation ; it has gained no religious substantiality for
itself from Spirit. The bare subjectivity of conscience is char-
acteristic of the Roman in all that he does and undertakes — in
his covenants, political relations, obligations, family relations,
etc.; and all these relations receive thereby not merely a legal
THE ROMAN WORLD 291
sanction, but as it were a solemnity analogous to that of an oath.
The infinite number of ceremonies at the comitia, on assum-
ing offices, etc., are expressions and declarations that concern
this firm bond. Everywhere the sacra play a very important
part. Transactions, naturally the most alien to constraint, be-
came a sacrum, and were petrified, as it were, into that. To this
category belongs, e.g., in strict marriages, the confarreatio, and
the auguries and auspices generally. The knowledge of these
sacra is utterly uninteresting and wearisome, affording fresh
material for learned research as to whether they are of Etruscan,
Sabine, or other origin. On their account the Roman people
have been regarded as extremely pious, both in positive and neg-
ative observances ; though it is ridiculous to hear recent writers
speak with unction and respect of these sacra. The Patricians
were especially fond of them ; they have therefore been elevated
in the judgment of some, to the dignity of sacerdotal families,
and regarded as the sacred gentes — the possessors and conserva-
tors of Roman religion : the plebeians then become the godless
element. On this head what is pertinent has already been said.
The ancient kings were at the same time also reges sacrorum.
After the royal dignity had been done away with, there still
remained a Rex Sacrorum; but he, like all the other priests, was
subject to the Pontifex Maximus, who presided over all the
" sacra," and gave them such a rigidity and fixity as enabled the
patricians to maintain their religious power so long.
But the essential point in pious feeling is the subject matter
with which it occupies itself — though it is often asserted, on
the contrary, in modern times, that if pious feelings exist, it is a
matter of indifference what object occupies them. It has been
already remarked of the Romans, that their religious subjectivi-
ty did not expand into a free spiritual and moral comprehensive-
ness of being. It can be said that their piety did not develop itself
into religion ; for it remained essentially formal, and this formal-
ism took its real side from another quarter. From the very
definition given, it follows that it can only be of a finite, unhal-
lowed order, since it arose outside the secret sanctum of re-
ligion. The chief characteristic of Roman Religion is therefore
a hard and dry contemplation of certain voluntary aims, which
they regard as existing absolutely in their divinities, and whose
accomplishment they desire of them as embodying absolute
power. These purposes constitute that for the sake of which
292
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.
they worship the gods, and by which, in a constrained, limited
way, they are bound to their deities. The Roman religion is
therefore the entirely prosaic one of narrow aspirations, expedi-
ency, profit. The divinities peculiar to them are entirely prosaic ;
they are conditions [of mind or body], sensations, or useful arts,
to which their dry fancy, having elevated them to independent
power, gave objectivity; they are partly abstractions, which
could only become frigid allegories — partly conditions of being
which appear as bringing advantage or injury, and which were
presented as objects of worship in their original bare and lim-
ited form. We can but briefly notice a few examples. The
Romans worshipped " Pax," " Tranquillitas," " Vacuna " (Re-
pose), "Angeronia" (Sorrow and Grief), as divinities; they
consecrated altars to the Plague, to Hunger, to Mildew (Robi-
go), to Fever, and to the Dea Cloacina. Juno appears among the
Romans not merely as " Lucina," the obstetric goddess, but also
as " Juno Ossipagina," the divinity who forms the bones of the
child, and as " Juno Unxia," who anoints the hinges of the doors
at marriages (a matter which was also reckoned among the
" sacra "). How little have these prosaic conceptions in com-
mon with the beauty of the spiritual powers and deities of the
Greeks! On the other hand, Jupiter as " Jupiter Capitolinus "
represents the generic essence of the Roman Empire, which is
also personified in the divinities " Roma " and " Fortuna Pub-
lica."
It was the Romans especially who introduced the practice of
not merely supplicating the gods in time of need, and celebrating
" lectisternia," but of also making solemn promises and vows
to them. For help in difficulty they sent even into foreign coun-
tries, and imported foreign divinities and rites. The introduc-
tion of the gods and most of the Roman temples thus arose
from necessity — from a vow of some kind, and an obligatory, not
disinterested acknowledgment of favors. The Greeks on the
contrary erected and instituted their beautiful temples, and
statues, and rites, from love to beauty and divinity for their own
sake.
Only one side of the Roman religion exhibits something at-
tractive, and that is the festivals, which bear a relation to coun-
try life, and whose observance was transmitted from the earliest
times. The idea of the Satumian time is partly their basis — the
conception of a state of things antecedent to and beyond the
THE ROMAN WORLD
2 93
limits of civil society and political combination; but their import
is partly taken from Nature generally — the Sun, the course of
the year, the seasons, months, etc., (with astronomical intima-
tions) — partly from the particular aspects of the course of Nat-
ure, as bearing upon pastoral and agricultural life. There were
festivals of sowing and harvesting and of the seasons ; the prin-
cipal was that of the Saturnalia, etc. In this aspect there appears
much that is naive and ingenuous in the tradition. Yet this
series of rites, on the whole, presents a very limited and prosaic
appearance; deeper views of the great powers of nature and
their generic processes are notdeducible from them ; for they are
entirely directed to external vulgar advantage, and the merri-
ment they occasioned, degenerated into a buffoonery unrelieved
by intellect. While among the Greeks their tragic art developed
itself from similar rudiments, it is on the other hand remarkable
that among the Romans the scurrilous dances and songs con-
nected with the rural festivals were kept up till the latest periods
without any advance from this naive but rude form to any-
thing really artistic.
It has already been said that the Romans adopted the Greek
Gods, (the mythology of the Roman poets is entirely derived
from the Greeks) ; but the worship of these beautiful gods of the
imagination appears to have, been among them of a very cold
and superficial order. Their talk of Jupiter, Juno, Minerva
sounds like a mere theatrical mention of them. The Greeks
made their Pantheon the embodiment of a rich intellectual ma-
terial, and adorned it with bright fancies; it was to them an
object calling forth continual invention and exciting thoughtful
reflection ; and an extensive, nay inexhaustible, treasure has thus
been created for sentiment, feeling and thought in their mythol-
ogy. The Spirit of the Romans did not indulge and delight itself
in that play of a thoughtful fancy; the Greek mythology appears
lifeless and exotic in their hands. Among the Roman poets —
especially Virgil — the introduction of the gods is the product of
a frigid Understanding and of imitation. The gods are used in
these poems as machinery, and in a merely superficial way; re-
garded much in the same way as in our didactic treatises on the
belles-lettres, where among other directions we find one relating
to the use of such machinery in epics — in order to produce
astonishment.
The Romans were as essentially different from the Greeks in
294 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
respect to their public games. In these the Romans were, prop-
erly speaking, only spectators. The mimetic and theatrical
representation, the dancing, foot-racing and wrestling, they left
to manumitted slaves, gladiators, or criminals condemned to
death. Nero's deepest degradation was his appearing on a pub-
lic stage as a singer, lyrist and combatant. As the Romans were
only spectators, these diversions were something foreign to
them; they did not enter into them with their whole souls.
With increasing luxury the taste for the baiting of beasts and
men became particularly keen. Hundreds of bears, lions, tigers,
elephants, crocodiles, and ostriches, were produced, and slaugh-
tered for mere amusement. A body consisting of hundreds, nay
thousands of gladiators, when entering the amphitheatre at a
certain festival to engage in a sham sea-fight, addressed the Em-
peror with the words: " Those who are devoted to death salute
thee," to excite some compassion. In vain! the whole were
devoted to mutual slaughter. In place of human sufferings in
the depths of the soul and spirit, occasioned by the contradic-
tions of life, and which find their solution in Destiny, the Ro-
mans instituted a cruel reality of corporeal sufferings : blood in
streams, the rattle in the throat which signals death, and the
expiring gasp were the scenes that delighted them. — This cold
negativity of naked murder exhibits at the same time that mur-
der of all spiritual objective aim which had taken place in the
soul. I need only mention, in addition, the auguries, auspices,
and Sibylline books, to remind you how fettered the Romans
were by superstitions of all kinds, and how they pursued ex-
clusively their own aims in all the observances in question. The
entrails of beasts, flashes of lightning, the flight of birds, the
Sibylline dicta determined the administration and projects of
the State. All this was in the hands of the patricians, who
consciously made use of it as a mere outward [non-spiritual,
secular] means of constraint to further their own ends and
oppress the people.
The distinct elements of Roman religion are, according to
what has been said, subjective religiosity and a ritualism having
for its object purely superficial external aims. Secular aims
are left entirely free, instead of being limited by religion — in
fact they are rather justified by it. The Romans are invariably
pious, whatever may be the substantial character of their actions.
But as the sacred principle here is nothing but an empty form, it
THE ROMAN WORLD 295
is exactly of such a kind that it can be an instrument in the
power of the devotee; it is taken possession of by the individual,
who seeks his private objects and interests ; whereas the truly
Divine possesses on the contrary a concrete power in itself. But
where there is only a powerless form, the individual — the Will,
possessing an independent concreteness able to make that form
its own, and render it subservient to its views — stands above it.
This happened in Rome on the part of the patricians. The
possession of sovereignty by the patricians is thereby made firm,
sacred, incommunicable, peculiar: the administration of gov-
ernment, and political privileges, receive the character of hal-
lowed private property. There does not exist therefore a sub-
stantial national unity — not that beautiful and moral necessity of
united life in the Polis ; but every " gens " is itself firm, stern,
having its own Penates and sacra ; each has it own political char-
acter, which it always preserves : strict, aristocratic severity dis-
tinguished the Claudii; benevolence towards the people, the
Valerii; nobleness of spirit, the Cornelii. Separation and limita-
tion were extended even to marriage, for the connubia of patri-
cians with plebeians were deemed profane. But in that very
subjectivity of religion we find also the principle of arbitrariness :
and while on the one hand we have arbitrary choice invoking
religion to bolster up private possession, we have on the other
hand the revolt of arbitrary choice against religion. For the
same order of things can, on the one side, be regarded as priv-
ileged by its religious form, and on the other side wear the
aspect of being merely a matter of choice — of arbitrary volition
on the part of man. When the time was come for it to be de-
graded to the rank of a mere form, it was necessarily known
and treated as a form — trodden under foot — represented as
formalism. — The inequality which enters into the domain of
sacred things forms the transition from religion to the bare real-
ity of political life. The consecrated inequality of will and of
private property constitutes the fundamental condition of the
change. The Roman principle admits of aristocracy alone as the
constitution proper to it, but which directly manifests itself only
in an antithetical form — internal inequality. Only from neces-
sity and the pressure of adverse circumstances is this contradic-
tion momentarily smoothed over; for it involves a duplicate
power, the sternness and malevolent isolation of whose com-
ponents can only be mastered and bound together by a still
(greater sternness, into a unity maintained by force.
296 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Chapter II. — The History of Rome to the Second Punic War
In the first period, several successive stages display their char-
acteristic varieties. The Roman State here exhibits its first
phase of growth, under Kings; then it receives a republican con-
stitution, at whose head stand Consuls. The struggle between
patricians and plebeians begins ; and after this has been set at
rest by the concession of the plebeian demands, there ensues a
state of contentment in the internal affairs of Rome, and it ac-
quires strength to combat victoriously with the nation that pre-
ceded it on the stage of general history. As regards the accounts
of the first Roman kings, every datum has met with flat contra-
diction as the result of criticism; but it is going too far to deny
them all credibility. Seven kings in all, are mentioned by tradi-
tion; and even the " Higher Criticism " is obliged to recognize
the last links in the series as perfectly historical. Romulus is
called the founder of this union of freebooters; he organized it
into a military state. Although the traditions respecting him
appear fabulous, they only contain what is in accordance with
the Roman Spirit as above described. To the second king,
Numa, is ascribed the introduction of the religious ceremonies.
This trait is very remarkable from its implying that religion was
introduced later than political union, while among other peoples
religious traditions make their appearance in the remotest
periods and before all civil institutions. The king was at the
same time a priest (rex is referred by etymologists to pe&tv —
to sacrifice. As is the case with states generally, the Political
was at first united with the Sacerdotal, and a theocratical state of
things prevailed. The King stood here at the head of those who
enjoyed privileges in virtue of the sacra.
The separation of the distinguished and powerful citizens as
senators and patricians took place as early as the first kings.
Romulus is said to have appointed ioo patrcs, respecting which
however the Higher Criticism is sceptical. In religion, arbitrary
ceremonies — the sacra — became fixed marks of distinction, and
peculiarities of the gentes and orders. The internal organization
of the State was gradually realized. Livy says that as Numa
established all divine matters, so Servius Tullius introduced the
different Classes, and the Census, according to which the share
of each citizen in the administration of public affairs was deter-
mined. The patricians were discontented with this scheme, es-
THE ROMAN WORLD 297
pecially because Servius Tullius abolished a part of the debts
owed by the plebeians, and gave public lands to the poorer citi-
zens, which made them possessors of landed property. He
divided the people into six classes, of which the first together
with the knights formed ninety-eight centuries, the inferior
classes proportionately fewer. Thus, as they voted by centuries,
the class first in rank had also the greatest weight in the State.
It appears that previously the patricians had the power exclu-
sively in their hands, but that after Servius's division they had
merely a preponderance; which explains their discontent with
his institutions. With Servius the history becomes more dis-
tinct ; and under him and his predecessor, the elder Tarquinius,
traces of prosperity are exhibited. Niebuhr is surprised that
according to Dionysius and Livy, the most ancient constitution
was democratic, inasmuch as the vote of every citizen had equal
weight in the assembly of the people. But Livy only says that
Servius abolished the suifragium viritim. Now in the comitia
curiata — the cliental relation, which absorbed the plebs, extend-
ing to all — the patricians alone had a vote, and papulus denoted
at that time only the patricians. Dionysius therefore does not
contradict himself, when he says that the constitution according
to the laws of Romulus was strictly aristocratic.
Almost all the Kings were foreigners — a circumstance very
characteristic of the origin of Rome. Numa, who succeeded the
founder of Rome, was according to the tradition, one of the
Sabines — a people which under the reign of Romulus, led by
Tatius, is said to have settled on one of the Roman hills. At a
later date however the Sabine country appears as a region en-
tirely separated from the Roman State. Numa was followed by
Tullus Hostilius, and the very name of this king points to his
foreign origin. Ancus Martins, the fourth king, was the grand-
son of Numa. Tarquinius Priscus sprang from a Corinthian
family, as we had occasion to observe above. Servius Tullius
was from Corniculum, a conquered Latin town; Tarquinius
Superbus was descended from the elder Tarquinius. Under this
last king Rome reached a high degree of prosperity : even at so
early a period as this, a commercial treaty is said to have been
concluded with the Carthaginians; and to be disposed to reject
this as mythical would imply forgetfulness of the connection
which Rome had, even at that time, with the Etrurians and other
bordering peoples whose prosperity depended on trade andmari-
298 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
time pursuits. The Romans were probably even then acquainted
with the art of writing, and already possessed that clear-
sighted comprehension which was their remarkable character-
istic, and which led to that perspicuous historical composition
for which they are famous.
In the growth of the inner life of the state, the power of the
Patricians had been much reduced; and the kings often courted
the support of the people — as we see was frequently the case
in the mediaeval history- of Europe — in order to steal a march
upon the Patricians. We have already observed this in Servius
Tullius. The last king, Tarquinius Superbus, consulted the
senate but little in state affairs; he also neglected to supply the
place of its deceased members, and acted in every respect as if
he aimed at its utter dissolution. Then ensued a state of political
excitement which only needed an occasion to break out into
open revolt. An insult to the honor of a matron — the invasion
of that sanctum sanctorum — by the son of the king, supplied
such an occasion. The kings were banished in the year 244
of the City and 510 of the Christian Era (that is, if the building
of Rome is to be dated 753 B.C.) and the royal dignity abolished
forever.
The Kings were expelled by the patricians, not by the ple-
beians; if therefore the patricians are to be regarded as pos-
sessed of " divine right " as being a sacred race, it is worthy
of note that we find them here contravening such legitimation ;
for the King was their High Priest. We observe on this occa-
sion with what dignity the sanctity of marriage was invested
in the eyes of the Romans. The principle of subjectivity and
piety (pudor) was with them the religious and guarded ele-
ment; and its violation becomes the occasion of the expulsion
of the Kings, and later on of the Decemvirs too. We find
monogamy therefore also looked upon by the Romans as an
understood thing. It was not introduced by an express law;
we have nothing but an incidental testimony in the Institutes,
where it is said that marriages under certain conditions of re-
lationship are not allowable, because a man may not have two
wives. It is not until the reign of Diocletian that we find a
law expressly determining that no one belonging to the Roman
empire may have two wives, " since according to a pretorian
edict also, infamy attaches to such a condition " (cum etiam in
edict prat oris hujusmodi viri infamia notati sunt). Monog-
THE ROMAN WORLD
299
amy therefore is regarded as naturally valid, and is based on
the principle of subjectivity. — Lastly, we must also observe that
royalty was not abrogated here as in Greece by suicidal de-
struction on the part of the royal races, but was exterminated
in hate. The King, himself the chief priest, had been guilty
of the grossest profanation; the principle of subjectivity re-
volted against the deed, and the patricians, thereby elevated
to a sense of independence, threw off the yoke of royalty. Pos-
sessed by the same feeling, the plebs at a later date rose against
the patricians, and the Latins and the Allies against the Ro-
mans ; until the equality of the social units was restored through
the whole Roman dominion (a multitude of slaves, too, being
emancipated) and they were held together by simple Despot-
ism.
Livy remarks that Brutus hit upon the right epoch for the
expulsion of the kings, for that if it had taken place earlier,
the state would have suffered dissolution. What would have
happened, he asks, if this homeless crowd had been liberated
earlier, when living together had not yet produced a mutual
conciliation of dispositions? — The constitution now became in
name republican. If we look at the matter more closely it is
evident (Livy ii. 1) that no other essential change took place
than the transference of the power which was previously per-
manent in the King, to two annual Consuls. These two, equal
in power, managed military and judicial as well as administra-
tive business; for praetors, as supreme judges, do not appear
till a later date.
At first all authority remained in the hands of the consuls;
and at the beginning of the republic, externally and internally,
the state was in evil plight. In the Roman history a period
occurs as troubled as that in the Greek which followed the
extinction of the dynasties. The Romans had first to sustain
a severe conflict with their expelled King, who had sought and
found help from the Etrurians. In the war against Porsena
the Romans lost all their conquests, and even their indepen-
dence : they were compelled to lay down their arms and to give
hostages; according to an expression of Tacitus (Hist. 3, 72)
it seems as if Porsena had even taken Rome. Soon after the
expulsion of the Kings we have the contest between the patri-
cians and plebeians ; for the abolition of royalty had taken place
exclusively to the advantage of the aristocracy, to which the
Vol. 23 N— Classics
3 oo PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
royal power was transferred, while the plebs lost the protection
which the Kings had afforded it. All magisterial and juridical
power, and all property in land was at this time in the hands
of the patricians; while the people, continually dragged out
to war, could not employ themselves in peaceful occupations:
handicrafts could not flourish, and the only acquisition the ple-
beians could make was their share in the booty. The patricians
had their territory and soil cultivated by slaves, and assigned
some of their land to their clients, who on condition of paying
taxes and contributions — as tenant cultivators, therefore — had
the usufruct of it. This relation, on account of the form in
which the dues were paid by the Clientes, was very similar to
vassalage : they were obliged to give contributions towards the
marriage of the daughters of the Patronus, to ransom him or
his sons when in captivity, to assist them in obtaining magis-
terial offices, and to make up the losses sustained in suits at
law. The administration of justice was likewise in the hands
of the patricians, and that without the limitations of definite
and written laws; a desideratum which at a later period the
Decemvirs were created to supply. All the power of govern-
ment belonged moreover to the patricians, for they were in
possession of all offices — first of the consulship, afterwards of
the military tribuneship and censorship (instituted a.u.c. 311)
- — by which the actual administration of government as like-
wise the oversight of it, was left to them alone. Lastly, it was
the patricians who constituted the Senate. The question as to
how that body was recruited appears very important. But in
this matter no systematic plan was followed. Romulus is said
to have founded the senate, consisting then of one hundred
members; the succeeding kings increased this number, and
Tarquinius Priscus fixed it at three hundred. Junius Brutus
restored the senate, which had very much fallen away, de novo.
In after times it would appear that the censors and sometimes
the dictators filled up the vacant places in the senate. In the
second Punic War, a.u.c. 538, a dictator was chosen, who nomi-
nated one hundred and seventy-seven new senators : he selected
those who had been invested with curule dignities, the plebeian
iEdiles, Tribunes of the People and Quaestors, citizens who had
gained spolia opima or the corona civica. Under Caesar the num-
ber of the senators was raised to eight hundred ; Augustus reduced
it to six hundred. It has been regarded as great negligence on the
THE ROMAN WORLD 301
part of the Roman historians, that they give us so little infor-
mation respecting the composition and redintegration of the
senate. But this point which appears to us to be invested
with infinite importance, was not of so much moment to the
Romans at large ; they did not attach so much weight to formal
arrangements, for their principal concern was, how the gov-
ernment was conducted. How in fact can we suppose the con-
stitutional rights of the ancient Romans to have been so well
defined, and that at a time which is even regarded as mythical,
and its traditionary history as epical?
The people were in some such oppressed condition as, e.g.
the Irish were a few years ago in the British Isles, while they
remained at the same time entirely excluded from the govern-
ment. Often they revolted and made a secession from the city.
Sometimes they also refused military service; yet it always
remains a very striking fact that the senate could so long resist
superior numbers irritated by oppression and practised in war;
for the main struggle lasted for more than a hundred years.
In the fact that the people could so long be kept in check is
manifested its respect for legal order and the sacra. But of
necessity the plebeians at last secured their righteous demands,
and their debts were often remitted. The severity of the patri-
cians their creditors, the debts due to whom they had to dis-
charge by slave- work, drove the plebs to revolts. At first it
demanded and received only what it had already enjoyed under
the kings — landed property and protection against the power-
ful. It received assignments of land, and Tribunes of the
People — functionaries that is to say, who had the power to
put a veto on every decree of the senate. When this office
commenced, the number of tribunes was limited to two: later
there were ten of them; which however was rather injurious
to the plebs, since all that the senate had to do was to gain
over one of the tribunes, in order to thwart the purpose of all
the rest by his single opposition. The plebs obtained at the
same time the provocatio ad populum: that is, in every case of
magisterial oppression, the condemned person might appeal
to the decision of the people — a privilege of infinite importance
to the plebs, and which especially irritated the patricians. At
the repeated desire of the people the Decemviri were nominated
—the Tribunate of the People being suspended — to supply the
desideratum of a determinate legislation; they perverted, as
302
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
is well known, their unlimited power to tyranny; and were
driven from power on an occasion entailing similar disgrace
to that which led to the punishment of the Kings. The de-
pendence of the clientela was in the meantime weakened ; after
the decemviral epoch the clientes are less and less prominent
and are merged in the plebs, which adopts resolutions (plebis-
cita) ; the senate by itself could only issue senatus consulta,
and the tribunes, as well as the senate, could now impede the
comitia and elections. By degrees the plebeians effected their
admissibility to all dignities and offices ; but at first a plebeian
consul, sedile, censor, etc., was not equal to the patrician one,
on account of the sacra which the latter kept in his hands ; and
a long time intervened after this concession before a plebeian
actually became a consul. It was the tribunus plebis, Licinius,
who established the whole cycle of these political arrangements
— in the second half of the fourth century, a.u.c. 387. It
was he also who chiefly commenced the agitation for the lex
agraria, respecting which so much has been written and debated
among the learned of the day. The agitators for this law ex-
cited during every period very great commotions in Rome. The
plebeians were practically excluded from almost all the landed
property, and the object of the Agrarian, Laws was to provide
lands for them — partly in the neighborhood of Rome, partly
in the conquered districts, to which colonies were to be then
led out. In the time of the Republic we frequently see military
leaders assigning lands to the people; but in every case they
were accused of striving after royalty, because it was the kings
who had exalted the plebs. The Agrarian Law required that
no citizen should possess more than five hundred jugera: the
patricians were consequently obliged to surrender a large part
of their property. Niebuhr in particular has undertaken ex-
tensive researches respecting the agrarian laws, and has con-
ceived himself to have made great and important discoveries:
he says, viz. that an infringement of the sacred right of prop-
erty was never thought of, but that the state had only assigned
a portion of the public lands for the use of the plebs, having
always had the right of disposing of them as its own property.
I only remark in passing that Hegewisch had made this dis-
covery before Niebuhr, and that Niebuhr derived the particular
data on which his assertion rests from Appian and Plutarch ;
that is from Greek authors, respecting whom he himself allows
THE ROMAN WORLD 303
that we should have recourse to them only in an extreme case.
How often does Livy, as well as Cicero and others, speak of
the Agrarian laws, while nothing definite can be inferred from
their statements ! — This is another proof of the inaccuracy
of the Roman historians. The whole affair ends in nothing but
a useless question of jurisprudence. The land which the patri-
cians had taken into possession or in which colonies settled,
was originally public land; but it also certainly belonged to
those in possession, and our information is not at all promoted
by the assertion that it always remained public land. This
discovery of Niebuhr's turns upon a very immaterial distinc-
tion, existing perhaps in his ideas, but not in reality. — The
Licinian law was indeed carried, but soon transgressed and
utterly disregarded. Licinius Stolo himself, who had first
" agitated " for the law, was punished because he possessed
a larger property in land than was allowed, and the patricians
opposed the execution of the law with the greatest obstinacy.
We must here call especial attention to the distinction which
exists between the Roman, the Greek, and our own circum-
stances. Our civil society rests on other principles, and in it
such measures are not necessary. Spartans and Athenians,
who had not arrived at such an abstract idea of the State as
was so tenaciously held by the Romans, did not trouble them-
selves with abstract rights, but simply desired that the citizens
should have the means of subsistence; and they required of
the state that it should take care that such should be the case.
This is the chief point in the first period of Roman History
— that the plebs attained the right of being eligible to the
higher political offices, and that by a share which they too
managed to obtain in the land and soil, the means of subsis-
tence were assured to the citizens. By this union of the
patriciate and the plebs, Rome first attained true internal con-
sistency ; and only after this had been realized could the Roman
power develop itself externally. A period of satisfied absorp-
tion in the common interest ensues, and the citizens are weary
of internal struggles. When after civil discords nations direct
their energies outward, they appear in their greatest strength ;
for the previous excitement continues, and no longer having its
object within, seeks for it without. This direction given to
the Roman energies was able for a moment to conceal the
defect of that union ; equilibrium was restored, but without an
3°4
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
essential centre of unity and support. The contradiction that
existed could not but break out again fearfully at a later period ;
but previously to this time the greatness of Rome had to display
itself in war and the conquest of the world. The power, the
wealth, the glory derived from these wars, as also the difficul-
ties to which they led, kept the Romans together as regards
the internal affairs of the state. Their courage and discipline
secured their victory. As compared with the Greek or Mace-
donian, the Roman art of war has special peculiarities. The
strength of the phalanx lay in its mass and in its massive char-
acter. The Roman legions also present a close array, but they
had at the same time an articulated organization: they united
the two extremes of massiveness on the one hand, and of dis-
persion into light troops on the other hand: they held firmly
together, while at the same time they were capable of ready
expansion. Archers and slingers preceded the main body of
the Roman army when they attacked the enemy — afterwards
leaving the decision to the sword.
It would be a wearisome task to pursue the wars of the Ro-
mans in Italy; partly because they are in themselves unim-
portant — even the often empty rhetoric of the generals in Livy
cannot very much increase the interest — partly on account of
the unintelligent character of the Roman annalists, in whose
pages we see the Romans carrying on war only with " enemies "
without learning anything further of their individuality — e.g.
the Etruscans, the Samnites, the Ligurians, with whom they
carried on wars during many hundred years. — It is singular in
regard to these transactions that the Romans, who have the
justification conceded by World-History on their side, should
also claim for themselves the minor justification in respect to
manifestoes and treaties on occasion of minor infringements
of them, and maintain it as it were after the fashion of advo-
cates. But in political complications of this kind, either party
may take offence at the conduct of the other, if it pleases, and
deems it expedient to be offended. — The Romans had long and
severe contests to maintain with the Samnites, the Etruscans,
the Gauls, the Marsi, the Umbrians and the Bruttii, before they
could make themselves masters of the whole of Italy. Their
dominion was extended thence in a southerly direction ; they
gained a secure footing in Sicily, where the Carthaginians had
long carried on war; then they extended their power towards
THE ROMAN WORLD 305
the west : from Sardinia and Corsica they went to Spain. They
thus soon came into frequent contact with the Carthaginians,
and were obliged to form a naval power in opposition to them.
This transition was easier in ancient times than it would per-
haps be now, when long practice and superior knowledge are
required for maritime service. The mode of warfare at sea was
not very different from that on land.
We have thus reached the end of the first epoch of Roman
History, in which the Romans by their retail military transac-
tions had become capitalists in a strength proper to themselves,
and with which they were to appear on the theatre of the world.
The Roman dominion was, on the whole, not yet very greatly
extended: only a few colonies had settled on the other side
of the Po, and on the south a considerable power confronted
that of Rome. It was the Second Punic War, therefore, that
gave the impulse to its terrible collision with the most powerful
states of the time; through it the Romans came into contact
with Macedonia, Asia, Syria, and subsequently also with Egypt.
Italy and Rome remained the centre of their great far-stretch-
ing empire, but this centre was, as already remarked, not the
less an artificial, forced, and compulsory one. This grand
period of the contact of Rome with other states, and of the
manifold complications thence arising, has been depicted by
the noble Achaean, Polybius, whose fate it was to observe the
fall of his country through the disgraceful passions of the
Greeks and the baseness and inexorable persistency of the Ro-
mans.
SECTION I!
ROME FROM THE SECOND PUNIC WAR TO THE
EMPERORS
THE second period, according to our division, begins with
the Second Punic War, that epoch which decided and
stamped a character upon Roman dominion. In the
first Punic War the Romans had shown that they had become a
match for the mighty Carthage, which possessed a great part
of the coast of Africa and southern Spain, and had gained a
firm footing in Sicily and Sardinia. The second Punic War
laid the might of Carthage prostrate in the dust. The proper
element of that state was the sea ; but it had no original terri-
tory, formed no nation, had no national army; its hosts were
composed of the troops of subjugated and allied peoples. In
spite of this, the great Hannibal with such a host, formed from
the most diverse nations, brought Rome near to destruction.
Without any support he maintained his position in Italy for
sixteen years against Roman patience and perseverance; dur-
ing which time however the Scipios conquered Spain and en-
tered into alliances with the princes of Africa. Hannibal was
at last compelled to hasten to the assistance of his hard-pressed
country; he lost the battle of Zama in the year 552 a.u.c. and
after six and thirty years revisited his paternal city, to which
he was now obliged to offer pacific counsels. The second Punic
War thus eventually established the undisputed power of Rome
over Carthage; it occasioned the hostile collision of the Ro-
mans with the king of Macedonia, who was conquered five
years later. Now Antiochus, the king of Syria, is involved in
the melee. He opposed a huge power to the Romans, was
beaten at Thermopylae and Magnesia, and was compelled to
surrender to the Romans Asia Minor as far as the Taurus.
After the conquest of Macedonia both that country and Greece
were declared free by the Romans — a declaration whose mean-
306
THE ROMAN WORLD 307
ing we have already investigated, in treating of the preceding
Historical nation. It was not till this time that the Third
Punic War commenced, for Carthage had once more raised its
head and excited the jealousy of the Romans. After long re-
sistance it was taken and laid in ashes. Nor could the Achaean
league now long maintain itself in the face of Roman ambition :
the Romans were eager for war, destroyed Corinth in the same
year as Carthage, and made Greece a province. The fall of
Carthage and the subjugation of Greece were the central points
from which the Romans gave its vast extent to their sover-
eignty.
Rome seemed now to have attained perfect security; no
external power confronted it: she was the mistress of the
Mediterranean — that is of the media terra of all civilization.
In this period of victory, its morally great and fortunate per-
sonages, especially the Scipios, attract our attention. They
were morally fortunate — although the greatest of the Scipios
met with an end outwardly unfortunate — because they devoted
their energies to their country during a period when it enjoyed
a sound and unimpaired condition. But after the feeling of
patriotism — the dominant instinct of Rome — had been satisfied,
destruction immediately invades the state regarded en masse;
the grandeur of individual character becomes stronger in in-
tensity, and more vigorous in the use of means, on account of
contrasting circumstances. We see the internal contradiction
of Rome now beginning to manifest itself in another form;
and the epoch which concludes the second period is also the
second mediation of that contradiction. We observed that con-
tradiction previously in the struggle of the patricians against
the plebeians : now it assumes the form of private interest, con-
travening patriotic sentiment ; and respect for the state no lon-
ger holds these opposites in the necessary equipoise. Rather,
we observe now side by side with wars for conquest, plunder
and glory, the fearful spectacle of civil discords in Rome, and 1
intestine wars. There does not follow, as among the Greeks
after the Median wars, a period of brilliant splendor in culture,
art and science, in which Spirit enjoys inwardly and ideally
that which it had previously achieved in the world of action.
If inward satisfaction was to follow the period of that external
prosperity in war, the principle of Roman life must be more
concrete. But if there were such a concrete life to evolve as
jo8 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
an object of consciousness from the depths of their souls by
imagination and thought, what would it have been ! Their
chief spectacles were triumphs, the treasures gained in war, and
captives from all nations, unsparingly subjected to the yoke of
abstract sovereignty. The concrete element, which the Romans
actually find within themselves, is only this unspiritual unity,
and any definite thought or feeling of a non-abstract kind, can
lie only in the idiosyncrasy of individuals. The tension of
virtue is now relaxed, because the danger is past. At the time
of the first Punic War, necessity united the hearts of all for the
saving of Rome. In the following wars too, with Macedonia,
Syria, and the Gauls in Upper Italy, the existence of the entire
state was still concerned. But after the danger from Carthage
and Macedon was over, the subsequent wars were more and
more the mere consequences of victories, and nothing else was
needed than to gather in their fruits. The armies were used for
particular expeditions, suggested by policy, or for the advan-
tages of individuals — for acquiring wealth, glory, sovereignty
in the abstract. The relation to other nations was purely that
of force. The national individuality of peoples did not, as
early as the time of the Romans, excite respect, as is the case
in modern times. The various peoples were not yet recognized
as legitimated; the various states had not yet acknowledged
each other as real essential existences. Equal right to existence
entails a union of states, such as exists in modern Europe, or
a condition like that of Greece, in which the states had an equal
right to existence under the protection of the Delphic god. The
Romans do not enter into such a relation to the other nations,
for their god is only the Jupiter Capitolinus ; neither do they
respect the sacra of the other nations (any more than the ple-
beians those of the patricians) ; but as conquerors in the strict
sense of the term, they plunder the Palladia of the nations.
Rome kept standing armies in the conquered provinces, and
proconsuls and propraetors were sent into them as viceroys.
The Equites collected the taxes and tributes, which they farmed
under the State. A net of such fiscal farmers ( public ani) was
thus drawn over the whole Roman world. — Cato used to say,
after every deliberation of the senate : " Ceterum censeo Car-
ihagmem esse delendam:" and Cato was a thorough Roman.
The Roman principle thereby exhibits itself as the cold abstrac-
tion of sovereignty and power, as the pure egotism of the will
THE ROMAN WORLD
309
in opposition to others, involving no moral element of deter-
mination, but appearing in a concrete form only in the shape
of individual interests. Increase in the number of provinces
issued in the aggrandizement of individuals within Rome itself,
and the corruption thence arising. From Asia, luxury and
debauchery were brought to Rome. Riches flowed in after the
fashion of spoils in war, and were not the fruit of industry and
honest activity ; in the same way as the marine had arisen, not
from the necessities of commerce, but with a warlike object.
The Roman state, drawing its resources from rapine, came to
be rent in sunder by quarrels about dividing the spoil. For the
first occasion of the breaking out of contention within it was
the legacy of Attalus, King of Pergamus, who had bequeathed
his treasures to the Roman State. Tiberius Gracchus came
forward with the proposal to divide it among the Roman citi-
zens; he likewise renewed the Licinian Agrarian laws, which
had been entirely set aside during the predominance of indi-
viduals in the state. His chief object was to procure property
for the free citizens, and to people Italy with citizens instead
of slaves. This noble Roman, however, was vanquished by the
grasping nobles, for the Roman constitution was no longer in
a condition to be saved by the constitution itself. Caius Grac-
chus, the brother of Tiberius, prosecuted the same noble aim
as his brother, and shared the same fate. Ruin now broke in
unchecked, and as there existed no generally recognized and
absolutely essential object to which the country's energy could
be devoted, individualities and physical force were in the as-
cendant. The enormous corruption of Rome displays itself
in the war with Jugurtha, who had gained the senate by bri-
bery, and so indulged himself in the most atrocious deeds of
violence and crime. Rome was pervaded by the excitement of
the struggle against the Cimbri and Teutones, who assumed
a menacing position towards the State. With great exertions
the latter were utterly routed in Provence, near Aix ; the others
in Lombardy at the Adige by Marius the conqueror of Ju-
gurtha. Then the Italian allies, whose demand of Roman citi-
zenship had been refused, raised a revolt; and while the Ro-
mans had to sustain a struggle against a vast power in Italy,
they received the news that, at the command of Mithridates,
80,000 Romans had been put to death in Asia Minor. Mith-
ridates was King of Pontus, governed Colchis and the lands
gio
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
of the Black Sea, as far as the Tauric peninsula, and could
summon to his standard in his war with Rome the populations
of the Caucasus, of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and a part of Syria,
through his son-in-law Tigranes. Sulla, who had already led
the Roman hosts in the Social War, conquered him. Athens,
which had hitherto been spared, was beleaguered and taken,
but " for the sake of their fathers " — as Sulla expressed himself
— not destroyed. He then returned to Rome, reduced the pop-
ular faction, headed by Marius and Cinna, became master of
the city, and commenced systematic massacres of Roman citi-
zens of consideration. Forty senators and six hundred knights
were sacrificed to his ambition and lust of power.
Mithridates was indeed defeated, but not overcome, and
was able to begin the war anew. At the same time, Sertorius,
a banished Roman, arose in revolt in Spain, carried on a contest
there for eight years, and perished only through treachery.
The war against Mithridates was terminated by Pompey ; the
King of Pontus killed himself when his resources were ex-
hausted. The Servile War in Italy is a contemporaneous event.
A great number of gladiators and mountaineers had formed a
union under Spartacus, but were vanquished by Crassus. To
this confusion was added the universal prevalence of piracy,
which Pompey rapidly reduced by a large armament.
We thus see the most terrible and dangerous powers arising
against Rome ; yet the military force of this state is victorious
over all. Great individuals now appear on the stage as during
the times of the fall of Greece. The biographies of Plutarch
are here also of the deepest interest. It was from the disrup-
tion of the state, which had no longer any consistency or firm-
ness in itself, that these colossal individualities arose, instinc-
tively impelled to restore that political unity which was no
longer to be found in men's dispositions. It was their misfor-
tune that they could not maintain a pure morality, for their
course of action contravened things as they are, and was a series
of transgressions. Even the noblest — the Gracchi — were not
merely the victims of injustice and violence from without, but
were themselves involved in the corruption and wrong that
universally prevailed. But that which these individuals pur-
pose and accomplish has on its side the higher sanction of the
World-Spirit, and must eventually triumph. The idea of an
organization for the vast empire being altogether absent, the
THE ROMAN WORLD 31 x
senate could not assert the authority of government. The sov-
ereignty was made dependent on the people — that people which
was now a mere mob, and was obliged to be supported by corn
from the Roman provinces. We should refer to Cicero to see
how all affairs of state were decided in riotous fashion, and
with arms in hand, by the wealth and power of the grandees
on the one side, and by a troop of rabble on the other. The
Roman citizens attached themselves to individuals who flattered
them, and who then became prominent in factions, in order
to make themselves masters of Rome. Thus we see in Pompey
and Caesar the two foci of Rome's splendor coming into hostile
opposition : on the one side, Pompey with the Senate, and
therefore apparently the defender of the Republic — on the
other, Caesar with his legions and a superiority of genius. This
contest between the two most powerful individualities could
not be decided at Rome in the Forum. Caesar made himself
master in succession, of Italy, Spain, and Greece, utterly routed
his enemy at Pharsalia, forty-eight years before Christ, made
himself sure of Asia, and so returned victor to Rome.
In this way the world-wide sovereignty of Rome became
the property of a single possessor. This important change
must not be regarded as a thing of chance; it was necessary
— postulated by the circumstances. The democratic constitu-
tion could no longer be really maintained in Rome, but only
kept up in appearance. Cicero, who had procured himself great
respect through his high oratorical talent, and whose learning
acquired him considerable influence, always attributes the cor-
rupt state of the republic to individuals and their passions.
Plato, whom Cicero professedly followed, had the full con-
sciousness that the Athenian state, as it presented itself to him,
could not maintain its existence, and therefore sketched the
plan of a perfect constitution accordant with his views. Cicero,
on the contrary, does not consider it impossible to preserve the
Roman Republic, and only desiderates some temporary as-
sistance for it in its adversity. The nature of the State, and
of the Roman State in particular, transcends his comprehen-
sion. Cato, too, says of Caesar : " His virtues be execrated,
for they have ruined my country ! " But it was not the mere
accident of Caesar's existence that destroyed the Republic — it
was Necessity. All the tendencies of the Roman principle were
to sovereignty and military force : it contained in it no spiritual
3 i2 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
centre which it could make the object, occupation, and enjoy-
ment of its Spirit. The aim of patriotism — that of preserving
the State— ceases when the lust of personal dominion becomes
the impelling passion. The citizens were alienated from the
state, for they found in it no objective satisfaction; and the
interests of individuals did not take the same direction as among
the Greeks, who could set against the incipent corruption of
the practical world, the noblest works of art in painting, sculpt-
ure and poetry, and especially a highly cultivated philosophy.
Their works of art were only what they had collected from
every part of Greece, and therefore not productions of their
own; their riches were not the fruit of industry, as was the
case in Athens, but the result of plunder. Elegance — Culture
— was foreign to the Romans per se; they sought to obtain it
from the Greeks, and for this purpose a vast number of Greek
slaves were brought to Rome. Delos was the centre of this
slave trade, and it is said that sometimes on a single day, ten
thousand slaves were purchased there. To the Romans, Greek
slaves were their poets, their authors, the superintendents of
their manufactories, the instructors of their children.
The Republic could not longer exist in Rome. We see, espe-
cially from Cicero's writings, how all public affairs were de-
cided by the private authority of the more eminent citizens —
by their power, their wealth; and what tumultuary proceed-
ings marked all political transactions. In the republic, there-
fore, there was no longer any security; that could be looked
for only in a single will. Caesar, who may be adduced as a
paragon of Roman adaptation of means to ends — who formed
his resolves with the most unerring perspicuity, and executed
them with the greatest vigor and practical skill, without any
superfluous excitement of mind — Caesar, judged by the great
scope of history, did the Right ; since he furnished a mediating
element, and that kind of political bond which men's condition
required. Caesar effected two objects : he calmed the internal
strife, and at the same time originated a new one outside the
limits of the empire. For the conquest of the world had reached
hitherto only to the circle of the Alps, but Caesar opened a new
scene of achievement: he founded the theatre which was on
the point of becoming the centre of History. He then achieved
universal sovereignty by a struggle which was decided not in
Rome itself, but by his conquest of the whole Roman World.
THE ROMAN WORLD 313
His position was indeed hostile to the republic, but, properly-
speaking, only to its shadow; for all that remained of that
republic was entirely powerless. Pompey, and all those who
were on the side of the senate, exalted their dignitas auctoritas
— their individual rule — as the power of the republic ; and the
mediocrity which needed protection took refuge under this title.
Caesar put an end to the empty formalism of this title, made
himself master, and held together the Roman world by force,
in opposition to isolated factions. Spite of this we see the
noblest men of Rome supposing Caesar's rule to be a merely
adventitious thing, and the entire position of affairs to be de-
pendent on his individuality. So thought Cicero, so Brutus and
Cassius. They believed that if this one individual were out of
the way, the Republic would be ipso facto restored. Possessed
by this remarkable hallucination, Brutus, a man of highly
noble character, and Cassius, endowed with greater practical
energy than Cicero, assassinated the man whose virtues they
appreciated. But it became immediately manifest that only
a single will could guide the Roman State, and now the Ro-
mans were compelled to adopt that opinion ; since in all periods
of the world a political revolution is sanctioned in men's opin-
ions, when it repeats itself. Thus Napoleon was twice defeated,
and the Bourbons twice expelled. By repetition that which at
first appeared merely a matter of chance and contingency be-
comes a real and ratified existence.
SECTION III
Chapter I. — Rome Under the Emperors
DURING this period the Romans come into contact with
the people destined to succeed them as a World-Histor-
ical nation ; and we have to consider that period in two
essential aspects, the secular and the spiritual. In the secular
aspect two leading phases must be specially regarded : first, the
position of the Ruler; and secondly, the conversion of mere
individuals into persons — the world of legal relations.
The first thing to be remarked respecting the imperial rule
is that the Roman government was so abstracted from interest,
that the great transition to that rule hardly changed anything
in the constitution. The popular assemblies alone were un-
suited to the new state of things, and disappeared. The em-
peror was princeps senatus, Censor, Consul, Tribune : he united
all their nominally continuing offices in himself ; and the mili-
tary power — here the most essentially important — was exclu-
sively in his hands. The constitution was an utterly unsub-
stantial form, from which all vitality, consequently all might
and power, had departed ; and the only means of maintaining
its existence were the legions which the Emperor constantly
kept in the vicinity of Rome. Public business was indeed
brought before the senate, and the Emperor appeared simply
as one of its members ; but the senate was obliged to obey,
and whoever ventured to gainsay his will was punished with
death, and his property confiscated. Those therefore who had
certain death in anticipation, killed themselves, that if they
could do nothing more, they might at least preserve their prop-
erty to their family. Tiberius was the most odious to the Ro-
mans on account of his power of dissimulation : he knew very
well how to make good use of the baseness of the senate, in
extirpating those among them whom he feared. The power
of the Emperor rested, as we have said, on the army, and the
Pretorian bodyguard which surrounded him. But the legions,
314
THE ROMAN WORLD 315
and especially the Pretorians, soon became conscious of their
importance, and arrogated to themselves the disposal of the
imperial throne. At first they continued to show some respect
for the family of Caesar Augustus, but subsequently the legions
chose their own generals ; such, viz., as had gained their good
will and favor, partly by courage and intelligence, partly also
by bribes, and indulgence in the administration of military dis-
cipline.
The Emperors conducted themselves in the enjoyment of
their power with perfect simplicity, and did not surround them-
selves with pomp and splendor in Oriental fashion. We find
in them traits of simplicity which astonish us. Thus, e.g., Au-
gustus writes a letter to Horace, in which he reproaches him
for having failed to address any poem to him, and asks him
whether he thinks that that would disgrace him with posterity.
Sometimes the Senate made an attempt to regain its conse-
quence by nominating the Emperor: but their nominees were
either unable to maintain their ground, or could do so only
by bribing the Pretorians. The choice of the senators and
the constitution of the senate was moreover left entirely to the
caprice of the Emperor. The political institutions were united
in the person y. the Emperor; no moral bond any longer ex-
isted ; the will of the Emperor was supreme, and before him
there was absolute equality. The freedmen who surrounded
the Emperor were often the mightiest in the empire; for ca-
price recognizes no distinction. In the person of the Emperor
isolated subjectivity has gained a perfectly unlimited realiza-
tion. Spirit has renounced its proper nature, inasmuch as
Limitation of being and of volition has been constituted an
unlimited absolute existence. This arbitrary choice, moreover,
has only one limit, the limit of all that is human — death; and
even death became a theatrical display. Nero, e.g., died a
death, which may furnish an example for the noblest hero, as
for the most resigned of sufferers. Individual subjectivity thus
entirely emancipated from control, has no inward life, no pros-
pective nor retrospective emotions, no repentance, nor hope,
nor fear — not even thought; for all these involve fixed condi-
tions and aims, while here every condition is purely contingent.
The springs of action are none other than desire, lust, passion,
fancy — in short, caprice absolutely unfettered. It finds so little
limitation in the will of others, that the relation of will to will
3 i6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
may be called that of absolute sovereignty to absolute slavery.
In the whole known world, no will is imagined that is not sub-
ject to the will of the Emperor. But under the sovereignty of
that One, everything is in a condition of order; for as it actually
is [as the Emperor has willed it], it is in due order, and gov-
ernment consists in bringing all into harmony with the sov-
ereign One. The concrete element in the character of the
Emperors is therefore of itself of no interest, because the con-
crete is not of essential importance. Thus there were Empe-
rors of noble character and noble nature, and who highly dis-
tinguished themselves by mental and moral culture. Titus,
Trajan, the Antonines, are known as such characters, rigor-
ously strict in self-government; yet even these produced no
change in the state. The proposition was never made during
their time, to give the Roman Empire an organization of free
social relationship: they were only a kind of happy chance,
which passes over without a trace, and leaves the condition of
things as it was. For these persons find themselves here in a
position in which they cannot be said to act, since no object con-
fronts them in opposition ; they have only to will — well or ill —
and it is so. The praiseworthy emperors Vespasian and Titus
were succeeded by that coarsest and most loathsome tyrant,
Domitian : yet the Roman historian tells us that the Roman
world enjoyed tranquillizing repose under him. Those single
points of light, therefore, effected no change ; the whole empire
was subject to the pressure of taxation and plunder ; Italy was
depopulated; the most fertile lands remained untilled: and
this state of things lay as a fate on the Roman world.
The second point which we have particularly to remark, is
the position taken by individuals as persons. Individuals were
perfectly equal (slavery made only a trifling distinction), and
without any political right. As early as the termination of the
Social War, the inhabitants of the whole of Italy were put on
an equal footing with Roman citizens; and under Caracalla
all distinction between the subjects of the entire Roman empire
was abolished. Private Right developed and perfected this
equality. The right of property had been previously limited
by distinctions of various kinds, which were now abrogated.
We observed the Romans proceeding from the principle of
abstract Subjectivity, which now realizes itself as Personality
in the recognition of Private Right. Private Right, viz., is this,
THE ROMAN WORLD 317
that the social unit as such enjoys consideration in the state,
in the reality which he gives to himself — viz., in property. The
living political body — that Roman feeling which animated it as
its soul — is now brought back to the isolation of a lifeless Pri-
vate Right. As, when the physical body suffers dissolution,
each point gains a life of its own, but which is only the miser-
able life of worms ; so the political organism is here dissolved
into atoms — viz., private persons. Such a condition is Roman
life at this epoch: on the one side, Fate and the abstract uni-
versality of sovereignty; on the other, the individual abstrac-
tion. " Person," which involves the recognition of the inde-
pendent dignity of the social unit — not on the ground of the
display of the life which he possesses — in his complete indi-
viduality — but as the abstract individuum.
It is the pride of the social units to enjoy absolute impor-
tance as private persons ; for the Ego is thus enabled to assert
unbounded claims; but the substantial interest thus compre-
hended — the meum — is only of a superficial kind, and the de-
velopment of private right, which this high principle intro-
duced, involved the decay of political life. — The Emperor
domineered only, and could not be said to rule; for the equita-
ble and moral medium between the sovereign and the subjects
was wanting — the bond of a cpnstitution and organization of
the state, in which a gradation of circles of social life, enjoying
independent recognition, exists in communities and provinces,
which, devoting their energies to the general interest, exert an
influence on the general government. There are indeed Curiae
in the towns, but they are either destitute of weight, or used
only as means for oppressing individuals, and for systematic
plunder. That, therefore, which was abidingly present to the
minds of men was not their country, or such a moral unity as
that supplies: the whole state of things urged them to yield
themselves to fate, and to strive for a perfect indifference to
life — an indifference which they sought either in freedom of
thought or in directly sensuous enjoyment. Thus man was
either at war with existence, or entirely given up to mere sensu-
ous existence. He either recognized his destiny in the task
of acquiring the means of enjoyment through the favor of the
Emperor, or through violence, testamentary frauds, and cun-
ning ; or he sought repose in philosophy, which alone was still
able to c, ioply something firm and independent: for the sys-
318 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
terns of that time — Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Scepticism —
although within their Common sphere opposed to each other,
had the same general purport, viz., rendering the soul abso-
lutely indifferent to everything which the real world had to
offer. These philosophies were therefore widely extended
among the cultivated : they produced in man a self-reliant im-
mobility as the result of Thought, i.e. of the activity which
produces the Universal. But the inward reconciliation by
means of philosophy was itself only an abstract one — in the
pure principle of personality ; for Thought, which, as perfectly
refined, made itself its own object, and thus harmonized itself,
was entirely destitute of a real object, and the immobility
of Scepticism made aimlessness itself the object of the Will.
This philosophy knew nothing but the negativity of all that
assumed to be real, and was the counsel of despair to a world
which no longer possessed anything stable. It could not satisfy
the living Spirit, which longed after a higher reconciliation.
Chapter II. — Christianity-
It has been remarked that Caesar inaugurated the Modern
World on the side of reality, while its spiritual and inward
existence was unfolded under Augustus. At the beginning of
that empire, whose principle we have recognized as finiteness
and particular subjectivity exaggerated to infinitude, the salva-
tion of the World had its birth in the same principle of subjec-
tivity — viz., as a particular person, in abstract subjectivity, but
in such a way that conversely, finiteness is only the form of his
appearance, while infinity and absolutely independent existence
constitute the essence and substantial being which it embodies.
The Roman World, as it has been described — in its desperate
condition and the pain of abandonment by God — came to an
open rupture with reality, and made prominent the general
desire for a satisfaction such as can only be attained in " the
inner man," the Soul — thus preparing the ground for a higher
Spiritual World. Rome was the Fate that crushed down the
gods and all genial life in its hard service, while it was the
power that purified the human heart from all speciality. Its
entire condition is therefore analogous to a place of birth, and
its pain is like the travail-throes of another and higher Spirit,
which manifested itself in connection with the Christian Re-
THE ROMAN WORLD
319
ligion. This higher Spirit involves the reconciliation and eman-
cipation of Spirit ; while man obtains the consciousness of Spirit
in its universality and infinity. The Absolute Object, Truth,
is Spirit; and as man himself is Spirit, he is present [is mir-
rored] to himself in that object, and thus in his Absolute Object
has found Essential Being and his own essential being.* But
in order that the objectivity of Essential Being may be done
away with, and Spirit be no longer alien to itself — may be with
itself [self-harmonized] — the Naturalness of Spirit — that in
virtue of which man is a special, empirical existence — must be
removed ; so that the alien element may be destroyed, and the
reconciliation of Spirit be accomplished.
God is thus recognized as Spirit, only when known as the
Triune. This new principle is the axis on which the History
of the World turns. This is the goal and the starting point of
History. " When the fulness of the time was come, God sent
his Son," is the statement of the Bible. This means nothing
else than that self-consciousness had reached the phases of de-
velopment [Momente], whose resultant constitutes the Idea
of Spirit, and had come to feel the necessity of comprehending
those phases absolutely. This must now be more fully ex-
plained. We said of the Greeks, that the law for their Spirit
was : " Man, know thyself." ., The Greek Spirit was a con-
sciousness of Spirit, but under a limited form, having the ele-
ment of Nature as an essential ingredient. Spirit may have
had the upper hand, but the unity of the superior and the
subordinate was itself still Natural. Spirit appeared as spe-
cialized in the idiosyncrasies of the genius of the several Greek
nationalities and of their divinities, and was represented by Art,
in whose sphere the Sensuous is elevated only to the middle
ground of beautiful form and shape, but not to pure Thought.
The element of Subjectivity that was wanting to the Greeks,
we found among the Romans : but as it was merely formal and
in itself indefinite, it took its material from passion and caprice ;
— even the most shameful degradations could be here connected
with a divine dread (vide the declaration of Hispala respecting
the Bacchanalia, Livy xxxix. 13). This element of subjectivity
is afterwards further realized as Personality of Individuals —
* The harsh requirements of an un- thing short of perfection ensues — con-
genial tyranny call forth man's highest sciousness of sin; and this sentiment in
powers of self-sacrifice; he learns his its greatest intensity, produces union
moral capacity; dissatisfaction with any- with God. — Ed.
3 2o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
a realization which is exactly adequate to the principle, and is
equally abstract and formal. As such an Ego [such a person-
ality], I am infinite to myself, and my phenomenal existence
consists in the property recognized as mine, and the recognition
of my personality. This inner existence goes no further; all
the applications of the principle merge in this. Individuals are
thereby posited as atoms ; but they are at the same time subject
to the severe rule of the One, which as monas monadum is a
power over private persons [the connection between the ruler
and the ruled is not mediated by the claim of Divine or of Con-
stitutional Right, or any general principle, but is direct and
individual, the Emperor being the immediate lord of each sub-
ject in the Empire] . That Private Right is therefore, ipso facto,
a nullity, an ignoring of the personality; and the supposed
condition of Right turns out to be an absolute destitution of it.
This contradiction is the misery of the Roman World. Each
person is, according to the principle of his personality, entitled
only to possesion, while the Person of Persons lays claim to
the possession of all these individuals, so that the right assumed
by the social unit is at once abrogated and robbed of validity.
But the misery of this contradiction is the Discipline of the
World. " Zucht " (discipline) is derived from " Ziehen " (to
draw).* This " drawing " must be towards something; there
must be some fixed unity in the background in whose direction
that drawing takes place, and for which the subject of it is
being trained, in order that the standard of attainment may be
reached. A renunciation, a disaccustoming, is the means of
leading to an absolute basis of existence. That contradiction
which afflicts the Roman World is the very state of things
which constitutes such a discipline — the discipline of that cult-
ure which compels personality to display its nothingness. But
it is reserved for us of a later period to regard this as a train-
ing; to those who are thus trained [traines, dragged], it seems
a blind destiny, to which they submit in the stupor of suffering.
The higher condition, in which the soul itself feels pain and
longing — in which man is not only " drawn," but feels that
the drawing is into himself [into his own inmost nature] —
is still absent. What has been reflection on our part must arise
in the mind of the subject of this discipline in the form of
a consciousness that in himself he is miserable and null. Out-
* So the English " train " from French " trainer "—to draw or drag.— Ed.
THE ROMAN WORLD
321
ward suffering must, as already said, be merged in a sorrow
of the inner man. He must feel himself as the negation of
himself ; he must see that his misery is the misery of his nature
— that he is in himself a divided and discordant being. This
state of mind, this self-chastening, this pain occasioned by our
individual nothingness — the wretchedness of our [isolated]
self, and the longing to transcend this condition of soul — must
be looked for elsewhere than in the properly Roman World.
It is this which gives to the Jewish People their World-Histori-
cal importance and weight; for from this state of mind arose
that higher phase in which Spirit came to absolute self-con-
sciousness — passing from that alien form of being which is
its discord and pain, and mirroring itself in its own essence.
The state of feeling in question we find expressed most purely
and beautifully in the Psalms of David, and in the Prophets;
the chief burden of whose utterances is the thirst of the soul
after God, its profound sorrow for its transgressions, and the
desire for righteousness and holiness. Of this Spirit we have
the mythical representation at the very beginning of the Jew-
ish canonical books, in the account of the Fall. Man, created
in the image of God, lost, it is said, his state of absolute con-
tentment, by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. Sin consists here only in Knowledge: this is the
sinful element, and by it man is stated to have trifled away
his Natural happiness. This is a deep truth, that evil lies in
consciousness : for the brutes are neither evil nor good ; the
merely Natural Man quite as little.* Consciousness occasions
the separation of the Ego, in its boundless freedom as arbitrary
choice, from the pure essence of the Will — i.e. from the Good.
Knowledge, as the disannulling of the unity of mere Nature,
is the " Fall," which is no casual conception, but the eternal
history of Spirit. For the state of innocence, the paradisaical
condition, is that of the brute. Paradise is a park, where only
brutes, not men, can remain. For the brute is one with God
only implicitly [not consciously]. Only Man's Spirit (that is)
has a self -cognizant existence. This existence for self, this
consciousness, is at the same time separation from the Uni-
versal and Divine Spirit. If I hold to my abstract Freedom, in
contraposition to the Good, I adopt the standpoint of Evil.
The Fall is therefore the eternal Mythus of Man — in fact, the
* " I was alive without the law once," etc. Rom. vii. 9.
322 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
very transition by which he becomes man. Persistence in this
standpoint is, however, Evil, and the feeling of pain at such
a condition, and of longing to transcend it, we find in David,
when he says : " Lord, create for me a pure heart, a new stead-
fast Spirit." This feeling we observe even in the account of
the Fall; though an announcement of Reconciliation is not
made there, but rather one of continuance in misery. Yet we
have in this narrative the prediction of reconciliation in the
sentence, " The serpent's head shall be bruised " ; but still more
profoundly expressed where it is stated that when God saw that
Adam had eaten of that tree, he said, " Behold Adam is become
as one of us, knowing Good and Evil." God confirms the
words of the Serpent. Implicitly and explicitly, then, we have
the truth, that man through Spirit — through cognition of the
Universal and the Particular — comprehends God Himself. But
it is only God that declares this — not man : the latter remains,
on the contrary, in a state of internal discord. The joy of
reconciliation is still distant from humanity; the absolute and
final repose of his whole being is not yet discovered to man.
It exists, in the first instance, only for God. As far as the
present is concerned, the feeling of pain at his condition is
regarded as a final award. The satisfaction which man enjoys
at first, consists in the finite and temporal blessings conferred
on the Chosen Family and the possession of the Land of Ca-
naan. His repose is not found in God. Sacrifices are, it is
true, offered to Him in the Temple, and atonement made by
outward offerings and inward penitence. But that mundane
satisfaction in the Chosen Family, and its possession of Canaan,
was taken from the Jewish people in the chastisement inflicted
by the Roman Empire. The Syrian kings did indeed oppress
it, but it was left for the Romans to annul its individuality.
The Temple of Zion is destroyed ; the God-serving nation is
scattered to the winds. Here every source of satisfaction is
taken away, and the nation is driven back to the standpoint
of that primeval mythus — the standpoint of that painful feeling
which humanity experiences when thrown upon itself. Op-
posed to the universal Fatum of the Roman World, we have
here the consciousness of Evil and the direction of the mind
Godwards. All that remains to be done, is that this funda-
mental idea should be expanded to an objective universal sense,
and be taken as the concrete existence of man — as the com-
THE ROMAN WORLD 323
pletion of his nature. Formerly the Land of Canaan and them-
selves as the people of God had been regarded by the Jews as
that concrete and complete existence. But this basis of satis-
faction is now lost, and thence arises the sense of misery and
failure of hope in God, with whom that happy reality had been
essentially connected. Here, then, misery is not the stupid
immersion in a blind Fate, but a boundless energy of longing.
Stoicism taught only that the Negative is not — that pain must
not be recognized as a veritable existence ; but Jewish feeling
persists in acknowledging Reality and desires harmony and
reconciliation within its sphere; for that feeling is based on
the Oriental Unity of Nature — i.e., the unity of Reality, of
Subjectivity, with the substance of the One Essential Being.
Through the loss of mere outward reality Spirit is driven back
within itself ; the side of reality is thus refined to Universality,
through the reference of it to the One. The Oriental antithesis
of Light and Darkness is transferred to Spirit, and the Dark-
ness becomes Sin. For the abnegation of reality there is no
compensation but Subjectivity itself — the Human Will as in-
trinsically universal ; and thereby alone does reconciliation
become possible. Sin is the discerning of Good and Evil as
separation ; but this discerning likewise heals the ancient hurt,
and is the fountain of infinite reconciliation. The discerning
in question brings with it the destruction of that which is
external and alien in consciousness, and is consequently the
return of Subjectivity into itself. This, then, adopted into
the actual self-consciousness of the World is the Reconciliation
[atonement] of the World. From that unrest of infinite sor-
row — in which the two sides of the antithesis stand related to
each other — is developed the unity of God with Reality (which
latter had been posited as negative) i.e., with Subjectivity
which had been separated from Him. The infinite loss is coun-
terbalanced only by its infinity, and thereby becomes infinite
gain. The recognition of the identity of the Subject and God
was introduced into the World when the fulness of Time was
come: the consciousness of this identity is the recognition of
God in his true essence. The material of Truth is Spirit itself
— inherent vital movement. The nature of God as pure Spirit,
is manifested to man in the Christian Religion.
But what is Spirit? It is the one immutably homogeneous
Infinite — pure Identity — which in its second phase separates
Vol. 23 O— Classics
324 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
itself from itself and makes this second aspect its own polar
opposite, viz. as existence for and in self as contrasted with
the Universal. But this separation is annulled by the fact
that atomistic Subjectivity, as simple relation to itself [as oc-
cupied with self alone] is itself the Universal, the Identical
with self. If Spirit be denned as absolute reflection within
itself in virtue of its absolute duality — Love on the one hand
as comprehending the Emotional [Empfindung], Knowledge
on the other hand as Spirit [including the penetrative and ac-
tive faculties, as opposed to the receptive] — it is recognized
as Triune: the " Father " and the " Son," and that duality
which essentially characterizes it as " Spirit." It must further
be observed, that in this truth, the relation of man. to this truth
is also posited. For Spirit makes itself its own [polar] oppo-
site — and is the return from this opposite into itself. Com-
prehended in pure ideality, that antithetic form of Spirit is the
Son of God; reduced to limited and particular concep-
tions, it is the World-Nature and Finite Spirit: Finite
Spirit itself therefore is posited as a constituent element [Mo-
ment] in the Divine Being. Man himself therefore is com-
prehended in the Idea of God, and this comprehension may
be thus expressed — that the unity of Man with God is posited
in the Christian Religion. But this unity must not be super-
ficially conceived, as if God were only Man, and Man, without
further condition, were God. Man, on the contrary, is God
only in so far as he annuls the merely Natural and Limited in
his Spirit and elevates himself to God. That is to say,' it is
obligatory on him who is a partaker of the truth, and knows
that he himself is a constituent [Moment] of the Divine Idea,
to give up his merely natural being: for the Natural is the
Unspiritual. In this Idea of God, then, is to be found also
the Reconciliation that heals the pain and inward suffering of
man. For Suffering itself is henceforth recognized as an in-
strument necessary for producing the unity of man with God.
This implicit unity exists in the first place only for the thinking
speculative consciousness ; but it must also exist for the sensu-
ous, representative consciousness — it must become an object for
the World — it must appear, and that in the sensuous form
appropriate to Spirit, which is the human. Christ has appeared
— a Man who is God — God who is Man ; and thereby peace and
reconciliation have accrued to the World. Our thoughts nat-
THE ROMAN WORLD 325
urally revert to the Greek anthropomorphism, of which we
affirmed that it did not go far enough. For that natural elation
of soul which characterized the Greeks did not rise to the Sub-
jective Freedom of the Ego itself — to the inwardness that be-
longs to the Christian Religion — to the recognition of Spirit
as a definite positive being. — The appearance of the Christian
God involves further its being unique in its kind ; it can occur
only once, for God is realized as Subject, and as manifested
Subjectivity is exclusively One Individual. The Lamas are
ever and anon chosen anew ; because God is known in the East
as Substance, whose infinity of form is recognized merely in an
unlimited multeity of outward and particular manifestations.
But subjectivity as infinite relation to self, has its form in itself,
and as manifested, must be a unity excluding all others. —
Moreover the sensuous existence in which Spirit is embodied
is only a transitional phase. Christ dies; only as dead, is he
exalted to Heaven and sits at the right hand of God; only
thus is he Spirit. He himself says : " When I am no longer
with you, the Spirit will guide you into all truth." Not till
the Feast of Pentecost were the Apostles filled with the Holy
Ghost. To the Apostles, Christ as living, was not that which
he was to them subsequently as the Spirit of the Church, in
which he became to them for the first time an object for their
truly spiritual consciousness. On the same principle, we do
not adopt the right point of view in thinking of Christ only
as a historical bygone personality. So regarded, the question
is asked, What are we to make of his birth, his Father and
Mother, his early domestic relations, his miracles, etc.? — i.e.
What is he unspiritually regarded ? Considered only in respect
of his talents, character and morality — as a Teacher and so forth
— we place him in the same category with Socrates and others,
though his morality may be ranked higher. But excellence of
character, morality, etc. — all this is not the ne plus ultra in the
requirements of Spirit — does not enable man to gain the specu-
lative idea of Spirit for his conceptive faculty. If Christ is
to be looked upon only as an excellent, even impeccable indi-
vidual, and nothing more, the conception of the Speculative
Idea, of Absolute Truth is ignored. But this is the desider-
atum, the point from which we have to start. Make of Christ
what you will, exegetically, critically, historically — demon-
strate as you please, how the doctrines of the Church were
326 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
established by Councils attained currency as the result o\
this or that episcopal interest or passion, or originated in
this or that quarter; — let all such circumstances have been
what they might — the only concerning question is : What is the
Idea or the Truth in and for itself ?
Further, the real attestation of the Divinity of Christ is the
witness of one's own Spirit — not Miracles; for only Spirit
recognizes Spirit. The miracles may lead the way to such rec-
ognition. A miracle implies that the natural course of things is
interrupted: but it is very much a question of relation what
we call the " natural course " ; and the phenomena of the mag-
net might under cover of this definition, be reckoned miracu-
lous. Nor does the miracle of the Divine Mission of Christ
prove anything; for Socrates likewise introduced a new self-
consciousness on the part of Spirit, diverse from the traditional
tenor of men's conceptions. The main question is not his Di-
vine Mission but the revelation made in Christ and the purport
of his mission. Christ himself blames the Pharisees for desir-
ing miracles of him, and speaks of false prophets who will per-
form miracles.
We have next to consider how the Christian view resulted
in the formation of the Church. To pursue the rationale of its
development from the Idea of Christianity would lead us too
far, and we have here to indicate only the general phases which
the process assumed. The first phase is the founding of the
Christian religion, in which its principle is expressed with un-
restrained energy, but in the first instance abstractly. This
we find in the Gospels, where the, infinity of Spirit — its eleva-
tion into the spiritual world [as the exclusively true and author-
ized existence] — is the main theme. With transcendent bold-
ness does Christ stand forth among the Jewish people. " Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," he proclaims in
the Sermon on the Mount — a dictum of the noblest simplicity,
and pregnant with an elastic energy of rebound against all the
adventitious appliances with which the human soul can be
burdened. The pure heart is the domain in which God is pres-
ent to man : he who is imbued with the spirit of this apophthegm
is armed against all alien bonds and superstitions. The other
utterances are of the same tenor : " Blessed are the peacemak-
ers : for they shall be called the children of God ; " and,
" Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake :
THE ROMAN WORLD 327
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ; " and, " Be ye perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Christ
enforces here a completely unmistakable requirement. The
infinite exaltation of Spirit to absolute purity is placed at the
beginning as the foundation of all. The form of the instru-
mentality by which that result is to be accomplished is not yet
given, but the result itself is the subject of an absolute com-
mand. As regards the relation of this standpoint of Spirit
to secular existence, we find that spiritual purity presented as
the substantial basis. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you ; " and,
" The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com-
pared with that glory." * Here Christ says that outward suf-
ferings, as such, are not to be feared or fled from, for they are
nothing as compared with that glory. Further on, this doc-
trine, as the natural consequence of its appearing in an abstract
form, assumes a polemical direction. " If thy right eye offend
thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: if thy right hand
offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. It is better that
one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole
body should be cast into hell." Whatever might disturb the
purity of the soul, should be destroyed. So in reference to
property and worldly gain, it is said : " Care not for your life,
what ye shall eat and drink, nor for your body, what ye shall
put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than
raiment? Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father
f eedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? " Labor
for subsistence is thus reprobated : " Wilt thou be perfect, go
and sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, so shalt thou
have a treasure in heaven, and come, follow me." Were this
precept directly complied with, a social revolution must take
place ; the poor would become the rich. Of such supreme mo-
ment, it is implied, is the doctrine of Christ, that all duties and
moral bonds are unimportant as compared with it. To a youth
who wishes to delay the duties of discipleship till he has buried
his father, Christ says : " Let the dead bury their dead — follow
thou me." " He that loveth father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me." He said : " Who is my mother ? and who
are my brethren? and stretched his hand out over his disciples
* The words in the text occur in Rom. viii. 18, but the import of Matt. v. 12, is
nearly the same.
328 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For he that
doeth the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother,
and sister and mother." Yes, it is even said : " Think not that
I am come to send peace on the Earth. I am not come to send
peace but the sword. For I am come to set a man against his
father, and the daughter against her mother, and the mother-
in-law against her daughter-in-law." Here then is an abstrac-
tion from all that belongs to reality, even from moral ties. We
may say that nowhere are to be found such revolutionary utter-
ances as in the Gospels ; for everything that had been respected,
is treated as a matter of indifference — as worthy of no regard.
The next point is the development of this principle; and
the whole sequel of History is the history of its development.
Its first realization is the formation by the friends of Christ,
of a Society — a Church. It has been already remarked that
only after the death of Christ could the Spirit come upon his
friends ; that only then were they able to conceive the true idea
of God, viz., that in Christ man is redeemed and reconciled:
for in him the idea of eternal truth is recognized, the essence
of man acknowledged to be Spirit, and the fact proclaimed that
only by stripping himself of his finiteness and surrendering
himself to pure self-consciousness, does he attain the truth.
Christ — man as man — in whom the unity of God and man has
appeared, has in his death, and his history generally, himself
presented the eternal history of Spirit — a history which every
man has to accomplish in himself, in order to exist as Spirit,
or to become a child of God, a citizen of his kingdom. The
followers of Christ, who combine on this principle and live in
the spiritual life as their aim, form the Church, which is the
Kingdom of God. " Where two or three are gathered together
in my name " (i.e. " in the character of partakers in my being ")
says Christ, " there am I in the midst of them." The Church
is a real present life in the Spirit of Christ.
It is important that the Christian religion be not limited
to the teachings of Christ himself: it is in the Apostles that
the completed and developed truth is first exhibited. This
complex of thought unfolded itself in the Christian community.
That community, in its first experiences, found itself sustaining
a double relation — first, a relation to the Roman World, and
secondly, to the truth whose development was its aim. We will
pursue these different relations separately.
THE ROMAN WORLD
329
The Christian community found itself in the Roman world,
and in this world the extension of the Christian religion was
to take place. That community must therefore keep itself re-
moved from all activity in the State — constitute itself a separate
company, and not react against the decrees, views, and trans-
actions of the state. But as it was secluded from the state, and
consequently did not hold the Emperor for its absolute sover-
eign, it was the object of persecution and hate. Then was
manifested that infinite inward liberty which it enjoyed, in the
great steadfastness with which sufferings and sorrows were
patiently borne for the sake of the highest truth. It^was less
the miracles of the Apostles that gave to Christianity its out-
ward extension and inward strength, than the substance, the
truth of the doctrine itself. Christ himself says : " Many will
say to me at that day: Lord, Lord! have we not prophesied
in thy name, have we not cast out devils in thy name, have we
not in thy name done many wonderful deeds? Then will I
profess unto them: I never knew you, depart from me all ye
workers of iniquity."
As regards its other relation, viz., that to the Truth, it is
especially important to remark that the Dogma — the Theoreti-
cal — was already matured within the Roman World, while we
find the development of the State from that principle, a much
later growth. The Fathers of the Church and the Councils
constituted the dogma ; but a chief element in this constitution
was supplied by the previous development of philosophy. Let
us examine more closely how the philosophy of the time stood
related to religion. It has already been remarked that the
Roman inwardness and subjectivity, which presented itself only
abstractly, as soulless personality in the exclusive position as-
sumed by the Ego, was refined by the philosophy of Stoicism
and Scepticism to the form of Universality. The ground of
Thought was thereby reached, and God was known in Thought
as the One Infinite. The Universal stands here only as an
unimportant predicate — not itself a Subject, but requiring a
concrete particular application to make it such. But the One
and Universal, the Illimitable conceived by fancy, is essentially
Oriental ; for measureless conceptions, carrying all limited ex-
istence beyond its proper bounds, are indigenous to the East.
Presented in the domain of Thought itself, the Oriental One is
the invisible and non-sensuous God of the Israelitish people,
33 o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
but whom they also make an object of conception as a person.
This principle became World-Historical with Christianity. —
In the Roman World, the union of the East and West had taken
place in the first instance by means of conquest: it took place
now inwardly, psychologically, also; — the Spirit of the East
spreading over the West. The worship of Isis and that of
Mithra had been extended through the whole Roman World;
Spirit, lost in the outward and in limited aims, yearned after
an Infinite. But the West desired a deeper, purely inward Uni-
versality — an Infinite possessed at the same time of positive
qualities v Again, it was in Egypt — in Alexandria, viz., the
centre -f communication between the East and the West — that
the problem of the age was proposed for Thought; and the
solution now found was — Spirit. There the two principles
came into scientific contact, and were scientifically worked out.
It is especially remarkable to observe there, learned Jews such
as Philo, connecting abstract forms of the concrete, which they
derived from Plato and Aristotle, with their conception of the
Infinite, and recognizing God according to the more concrete
idea of Spirit, under the definition of the Aoyos. So, also, did
the profound thinkers of Alexandria comprehend the unity of
the Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophy ; and their speculative
thinking attained those abstract ideas which are likewise the
fundamental purport of the Christian religion. The application,
by way of postulate, to the pagan religion, of ideas recognized
as true, was a direction which philosophy had already taken
among the heathen. Plato had altogether repudiated the current
mythology, and, with his followers, was accused of Atheism.
The Alexandrians, on the contrary, endeavored to demonstrate
a speculative truth in the Greek conceptions of the gods: and
the Emperor Julian the Apostate resumed the attempt, assert-
ing that the pagan ceremonials had a strict connection with
rationality. The heathen felt, as it were, obliged to give to
their divinities the semblance of something higher than sensu-
ous conceptions ; they therefore attempted to spiritualize them.
Thus much is also certain, that the Greek religion contains a
degree of Reason ; for the substance of Spirit is Reason, and
its product must be something Rational. It makes a difference,
however, whether Reason is explicitly developed in Religion,
or merely adumbrated by it, as constituting its hidden basis.
And while the Greeks thus spiritualized their sensuous divin-
THE ROMAN WORLD 33X
ities, the Christians also, on their side, sought for a profounder
sense in the historical part of their religion. Just as Philo found
a deeper import shadowed forth in the Mosaic record, and
idealized what he considered the bare shell of the narrative,
so also did the Christians treat their records — partly with a
polemic view, but still more largely from a free and spontaneous
interest in the process. But the instrumentality of philosophy
in introducing these dogmas into the Christian Religion, is no
sufficient ground for asserting that they were foreign to Chris-
tianity and had nothing to do with it. It is a matter of perfect
indifference where a thing originated; the only question is:
" Is it true in and for itself ? " Many think that by pronouncing
the doctrine to be Neo-Platonic, they have ipso facto banished
it from Christianity. Whether a Christian doctrine stands ex-
actly thus or thus in the Bible — the point to which the exegeti-
cal scholars of modern times devote all their attention — is not
the only question. The Letter kills, the Spirit makes alive:
this they say themselves, yet pervert the sentiment by taking
the Understanding for the Spirit. It was the Church that rec-
ognized and established the doctrines in question — i.e. the
Spirit of the Church ; and it is itself an Article of Doctrine :
"I believe in a Holy Church;"* as Christ himself also said:
" The Spirit will guide you into all truth." In the Nicene
Council (a.d. 325), was ultimately established a fixed confes-
sion of faith, to which we still adhere : this confession had not,
indeed, a speculative form, but the profoundly speculative is
most intimately inwoven with the manifestation of Christ him-
self. Even in John (iv apxfl V v A.6705, teal 6 \6705 r\v 7rpb<; rbv
@ebv, Kai @eo? r\v 6 X0705) we see the commencement of a pro-
founder comprehension. The profoundest thought is con-
nected with the personality of Christ — with the historical and
external ; and it is the very grandeur of the Christian religion
that, with all this profundity, it is easy of comprehension by
our consciousness in its outward aspect, while, at the same time,
it summons us to penetrate deeper. It is thus adapted to every
grade of culture, and yet satisfies the highest requirements.
Having spoken of the relation of the Christian community
to the Roman world on the one side, and to the truth contained
in its doctrines on the other side, we come to the third point —
* In the Lutheran ritual. " a holy " the Holy Catholic Church," in the Be-
Catholic Church " is substituted for lief.
33 2
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in which both doctrine and the external world are concerned —
the Church. The Christian community is the Kingdom of
Christ — its influencing present Spirit being Christ: for this
kingdom has an actual existence, not a merely future one. This
spiritual actuality has, therefore, also a phenomenal existence;
and that, not only as contrasted with heathenism, but with sec-
ular existence generally. For the Church, as presenting this
outward existence, is not merely a religion as opposed to an-
other religion, but is at the same time a particular form of
secular existence, occupying a place side by side with other
secular existence. The religious existence of the Church is
governed by Christ ; the secular side of its government is left
to the free choice of the members themselves. Into this king-
dom of God an organization must be introduced. In the first
instance, all the members know themselves filled with the
Spirit ; the whole community perceives the truth and gives ex-
pression to it; yet, together with this common participation
of spiritual influence, arises the necessity of a presidency of
guidance and teaching — a body distinct from the community
at large. Those are chosen as presidents who are distinguished
for talents, character, fervor of piety, a holy life, learning, and
culture generally. The presidents — those who have a superior
acquaintance with that substantial Life of which all are par-
takers, and who are instructors in that Life — those who estab-
lish what is truth, and those who dispense its enjoyment — are
distinguished from the community at large, as persons en-
dowed with knowledge and governing power are from the gov-
erned. To the intelligent presiding body, the Spirit comes in
a fully revealed and explicit form ; in the mass of the commu-
nity that Spirit is only implicit. While, therefore, in the pre-
siding body, the Spirit exists as self-appreciating and self-
cognizant, it becomes an authority in spiritual as well as in
secular matters — an authority for the truth and for the relation
of each individual to the truth, determining how he should
conduct himself so as to act in accordance with the Truth. This
distinction occasions the rise of an Ecclesiastical Kingdom in
the Kingdom of God. Such a distinction is inevitable ; but the
existence of an authoritative government for the Spiritual,
when closely examined, shows that human subjectivity in its
proper form has not yet developed itself. In the heart, indeed,
i the evil will is surrendered, but the will, as human, is not yet
THE ROMAN WORLD
333
interpenetrated by the Deity; the human will is emancipated
only abstractly — not in its concrete reality — for the whole se-
quel of History is occupied with the realization of this concrete
Freedom. Up to this point, finite Freedom has been only an-
nulled, to make way for infinite Freedom. The latter has not
yet penetrated secular existence with its rays. Subjective
Freedom has not yet attained validity as such : Insight [specu-
lative conviction] does not yet rest on a basis of its own, but
is content to inhere in the spirit of an extrinsic authority. That
Spiritual [geistig] kingdom has, therefore, assumed the shape
of an Ecclesiastical [geistlich] one, as the relation of the sub-
stantial being and essence of Spirit to human Freedom. Be-
sides the interior organization already mentioned, we find the
Christian community assuming also a definite external posi-
tion, and becoming the possessor of property of its own. As
property belonging to the spiritual world, it is presumed to
enjoy special protection; and the immediate inference from
this is, that the Church has no dues to pay to the state, and that
ecclesiastical persons are not amenable to the jurisdiction of
the secular courts. This entails the government by the Church
itself of ecclesiastical property and ecclesiastical persons. Thus
there originates with the Church the contrasted spectacle of
a body consisting only of private persons and the power of the
Emperor on the secular side; — on the other side, the perfect
democracy of the spiritual community, choosing its own presi-
dent. Priestly consecration, however, soon changes this de-
mocracy into aristocracy; — though the further development of
the Church does not belong to the period now under considera-
tion, but must be referred to the world of a later date.
It was then through the Christian Religion that the Absolute
Idea of God, in its true conception, attained consciousness.
Here Man, too, finds himself comprehended in his true nature,
given in the specific conception of " the Son." Man, finite
when regarded for himself, is yet at the same time the Image
of God and a fountain of infinity in himself. He is the object
of his own existence — has in himself an infinite value, an eter-
nal destiny. Consequently he has his true home in a super-
sensuous world — an infinite subjectivity, gained only by a rupt-
ure with mere Natural existence and volition, and by his labor
to break their power within him. This is religious self-con-
sciousness. But in order to enter the sphere and display the
334 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
active vitality of that religious life, humanity must become
capable of it. This capability is the Suva/xis for that ivepyeia.
What therefore remains to be considered is, those conditions
of humanity which are the necessary corollary to the considera-
tion that Man is Absolute Self-consciousness — his Spiritual
nature being the starting-point and presupposition. These con-
ditions are themselves not yet of a concrete order, but simply
the first abstract principles, which are won by the instrumen-
tality of the Christian Religion for the secular State. First,
under Christianity Slavery is impossible; for man is man — ■
in the abstract essence of his nature — is contemplated in God ;
each unit of mankind is an object of the grace of God and of
the Divine purpose : " God will have all men to be saved."
Utterly excluding all speciality, therefore, man, in and for him-
self — in his simple quality of man — has infinite value ; and this
infinite value abolishes, ipso facto, all particularity attaching to
birth or country. The other, the second principle, regards the
subjectivity of man in its bearing on the Fortuitous — on Chance.
Humanity has this sphere of free Spirituality in and for itself,
and everything else must proceed from it. The place appro-
priated to the abode and presence of the Divine Spirit— the
sphere in question — is Spiritual Subjectivity, and is consti-
tuted the place to which all contingency is amenable. It fol-
lows thence, that what we observed among the Greeks as a form
of Customary Morality, cannot maintain its position in the
Christian world. For that morality is spontaneous unreflected
Wont; while the Christian principle is independent subjectiv-
ity — the soil on which grows the True. Now an unreflected
morality cannot continue to hold its ground against the prin-
ciple of Subjective Freedom. Greek Freedom was that of
Hap and " Genius " ; it was still conditioned by Slaves and
Oracles ; but now the principle of absolute Freedom in God
makes its appearance. Man now no longer sustains the rela-
tion of Dependence, but of Love — in the consciousness that he
is a partaker in the Divine existence. In regard to particular
aims [such as the Greeks referred to oracular decision], man
now forms his own determinations and recognizes himself as
plenipotentiary in regard to all finite existence. All that is spe-
cial retreats into the background before that Spiritual sphere
of subjectivity, which takes a secondary position only in pres-
ence of the Divine Spirit. The superstition of oracles and
THE ROMAN WORLD 335
auspices is thereby entirely abrogated: Man is recognized as
the absolute authority in crises of decision.
It is the two principles just treated of, that now attach to
Spirit in this its self-contained phase. The inner shrine of
man is designed, on the one hand, to train the citizen of the
religious life to bring himself into harmony with the Spirit of
God ; on the other hand, this is the point du depart for deter-
mining secular relations, and its condition is the theme of Chris-
tian History. The change which piety effects must not remain
concealed in the recesses of the heart, but must become an
actual, present world, complying with the conditions pre-
scribed by that Absolute Spirit. Piety of heart does not, per se,
involve the submission of the subjective will, in its external
relations, to that piety. On the contrary we see all passions in-
creasingly rampant in the sphere of reality, because that sphere
is looked down upon with contempt, from the lofty position
attained by the world of mind, as one destitute of all claim arid
value. The problem to be solved is therefore the imbuing of the
sphere of [ordinary] unreflected Spiritual existence, with the
Idea of Spirit. A general observation here suggests itself. From
time immemorial it has been customary to assume an opposition
between Reason and Religion, as also between Religion and the
World; but on investigation this turns out to be only a dis-
tinction. Reason in general is the Positive Existence [Wesen]
of Spirit, divine as well as human. The distinction between
Religion and the World is only this — that Religion as such, is
Reason in the soul and heart — that it is a temple in which Truth
and Freedom in God are presented to the conceptive faculty:
the State, on the other hand, regulated by the selfsame Reason,
is a temple of Human Freedom concerned with the perception
and volition of a reality, whose purport may itself be called
divine. Thus Freedom in the State is preserved and estab-
lished by Religion, since moral rectitude in the State is only
the carrying out of that which constitutes the fundamental
principle of Religion. The process displayed in History is only
the manifestation of Religion as Human Reason — the produc-
tion of the religious principle which dwells in the heart of man,
under the form of Secular Freedom. Thus the discord between
the inner life of the heart and the actual world is removed. To
realize this is, however, the vocation of another people — or
other peoples — viz., the German. In ancient Rome itself, Chris-
336 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
tianity cannot find a ground on which it may become actual,
and develop an empire.
Chapter III. — The Byzantine Empire
With Constantine the Great the Christian religion ascended
the throne of the empire. He was followed by a succession of
Christian Emperors, interrupted only by Julian — who however,
could do but little for the prostrate ancient faith. The Roman
Empire embraced the whole civilized earth, from the Western
Ocean to the Tigris — from the interior of Africa, to the Danube
(Pannonia, Dacia). Christianity soon spread through the
length and breadth of this enormous realm. Rome had long
ceased to be the exclusive residence of the Emperors. Many
of Constantine's predecessors had resided in Milan or other
places ; and he himself established a second court in the ancient
Byzantium, which received the name of Constantinople. From
the first its population consisted chiefly of Christians, and Con-
stantine lavished every appliance to render this new abode equal
in splendor to the old. The empire still remained in its integrity
till Theodosius the Great made permanent a separation that
had been only occasional, and divided it between his two sons.
The reign of Theodosius displayed the last faint glimmer of
that splendor which had glorified the Roman world. Under
him the pagan temples were shut, the sacrifices and ceremonies
abolished, and paganism itself forbidden: gradually however
it entirely vanished of itself. The heathen orators of the time
cannot sufficiently express their wonder and astonishment at
the monstrous contrast between the days of their forefathers
and their own. " Our Temples have become Tombs. The
places which were formerly adorned with the holy statues of
the Gods are now covered with sacred bones (relics of the
Martyrs) ; men who have suffered a shameful death for their
crimes, whose bodies are covered with stripes, and whose heads
have been embalmed,' are the object of veneration." All that
was contemned is exalted ; all that was formerly revered, is
trodden in the dust. The last of the pagans express this enor-
mous contrast with profound lamentation.
The Roman Empire was divided between the two sons of
Theodosius. The elder, Arcadius, received the Eastern Em-
pire : — Ancient Greece, with Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt ;
THE ROMAN WORLD 337
the younger, Honorius, the Western : — Italy, Africa, Spain,
Gaul, Britain. Immediately after the death of Theodosius,
confusion entered, and the Roman provinces were overwhelmed
by alien peoples. Already, under the Emperor Valens, the Visi-
goths, pressed by the Huns, had solicited a domicile on the
hither side of the Danube. This was granted them, on the con-
dition that they should defend the border provinces of the em-
pire. But maltreatment roused them to revolt. Valens was
beaten and fell on the field. The later emperors paid court to
the leader of these Goths. Alaric, the bold Gothic Chief, turned
his arms against Italy. Stilicho, the general and minister of
Honorius, stayed his course, a.d. 403, by the battle of Pollentia,
as at a later date he also routed Radagaisus, leader of the
Alans, Suevi, and others. Alaric now attacked Gaul and Spain,
and on the fall of Stilicho returned to Italy. Rome was stormed
and plundered by him a.d. 410. Afterwards Attila advanced
on it with the terrible might of the Huns — one of those purely
Oriental phenomena, which, like a mere storm-torrent, rise to
a furious height and bear down everything in their course, but
in a brief space are so completely spent, that nothing is seen of
them but the traces they have left in the ruins which they have
occasioned. Attila pressed into Gaul, where, a.d. 451, a vig-
orous resistance was offered him by ^Etius, near Chalons on
the Marne. Victory remained doubtful. Attila subsequently
marched upon Italy and died in the year 453. Soon afterwards
however Rome was taken and plundered by the Vandals under
Genseric. Finally, the dignity of the Western Emperors be-
came a farce, and their empty title was abolished by Odoacer,
King of the Heruli.
The Eastern Empire long survived, and in the West a new
Christian population was formed from the invading barbarian
hordes. Christianity had at first kept aloof from the state, and
the development which it experienced related to doctrine, in-
ternal organization, discipline, etc. But now it had become
dominant: it was now a political power, a political motive.
We now see Christianity under two forms: on the one side
barbarian nations whose culture was yet to begin, who have
to acquire the very rudiments of science, law, and polity; on
other side civilized peoples in possession of Greek science and
a highly refined Oriental culture. Municipal legislation among
them was complete — having reached the highest perfection
338 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
through the labors of the great Roman jurisconsults ; so that
the corpus juris compiled at the instance of the Emperor Jus-
tinian, still excites the admiration of the world. Here the
Christian religion is placed in the midst of a developed civiliza-
tion, which did not proceed from it. There, on the contrary,
the process of culture has its very first step still to take, and
that within the sphere of Christianity.
These two empires, therefore, present a most remarkable
contrast, in which we have before our eyes a grand example
of the necessity of a people's having its culture developed in the
spirit of the Christian religion. The history of the highly
civilized Eastern Empire — where as we might suppose, the
Spirit of Christianity could be taken up in its truth and purity
— exhibits to us a millennial series of uninterrupted crimes,
weaknesses, basenesses and want of principle ; a most repulsive
and consequently a most uninteresting picture. It is evident
here, how Christianity may be abstract, and how as such it is
powerless, on account of its very purity and intrinsic spiritual-
ity. It may even be entirely separated from the World, as e.g.
in Monasticism — which originated in Egypt. It is a common
notion and saying, in reference to the power of Religion, ab-
stractly considered, over the hearts of men, that if Christian
love were universal, private and political life would both be
perfect, and the state of mankind would be thoroughly right-
eous and moral. Such representations may be a pious wish,
but do not possess truth; for religion is something internal,
having to do with conscience alone. To it all the passions and
desires are opposed, and in order that heart, will, intelligence
may become true, they must be thoroughly educated; Right
must become Custom — Habit ; practical activity must be ele-
vated to rational action ; the State must have a rational organ-
ization, and then at length does the will of individuals become
a truly righteous one. Light shining in darkness may perhaps
give color, but not a picture animated by Spirit. The Byzantine
Empire is a grand example of how the Christian religion may
maintain an abstract character among a cultivated people, if
the whole organization of the State and of the Laws is not
reconstructed in harmony with its principle. At Byzantium
Christianity had fallen into the hands of the dregs of the popu-
lation — the lawless mob. Popular license on the one side and
courtly baseness on the other side, take refuge under the sane-
THE ROMAN WORLD
339
tion of religion, and degrade the latter to a disgusting object.
In regard to religion, two interests obtained prominence : first,
the settlement of doctrine; and secondly, the appointment to
ecclesiastical offices. The settlement of doctrine pertained to
the Councils and Church authorities; but the principle of
Christianity is Freedom — subjective insight. These matters
therefore, were special subjects of contention for the populace;
violent civil wars arose, and everywhere might be witnessed
scenes of murder, conflagration and pillage, perpetrated in the
cause of Christian dogmas. A famous schism e.g. occurred
in reference to the dogma of the Tpiardyiov. The words read:
" Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Zebaoth." To this, one
party, in honor of Christ, added — " who was crucified for us."
Another party rejected the addition, and sanguinary struggles
ensued. In the contest on the question whether Christ were
o/xoovcrios or ofMoioixno^ — that is of the same or of similar nat-
ure with God — the one letter i cost many thousands their lives.
Especially notorious are the contentions about Images, in which
it often happened, that the Emperor declared for the images
and the Patriarch against, or conversely. Streams of blood
flowed as the result. Gregory Nazianzen says somewhere:
"This city (Constantinople) is full of handicraftsmen and
slaves, who are all profound theologians, and preach in their
workshops and in the streets. If you want a man to change
a piece of silver, he instructs you in what consists the distinc-
tion between the Father and the Son: if you ask the price of a
loaf of bread, you receive for answer — that the Son is inferior
to the Father ; and if you ask, whether the bread is ready, the
rejoinder is that the genesis of the Son was from Nothing."
The Idea of Spirit contained in this doctrine was thus treated
in an utterly unspiritual manner. The appointment to the
Patriarchate at Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria, and
the jealousy and ambition of the Patriarchs likewise occasioned
many intestine struggles. To all these religious contentions
was added the interest in the gladiators and their combats, and
in the parties of the blue and green color, which likewise occa-
sioned the bloodiest encounters ; a sign of the most fearful
degradation, as proving that all feeling for what is serious and
elevated is lost, and that the delirium of religious passion is
quite consistent with an appetite for gross and barbarous spec-
tacles.
340 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The chief points in the Christian religion were at last, by de-
grees, established by the Councils. The Christians of the By-
zantine Empire remained sunk in the dream of superstition —
persisting in blind obedience to the Patriarchs and the priest-
hood. Image- Worship, to which we alluded above, occasioned
the most violent struggles and storms. The brave Emperor
Leo the Isaurian in particular, persecuted images with the
greatest obstinacy, and in the year 754, Image- Worship was
declared by a Council to be an invention of the devil. Never-
theless, in the year 787 the Empress Irene had it restored under
the authority of a Nicene Council, and the Empress Theodora
definitively established it — proceeding against its enemies with
energetic rigor. The iconoclastic Patriarch received two hun-
dred blows, the bishops trembled, the monks exulted, and the
memory of this orthodox proceeding was celebrated by an an-
nual ecclesiastical festival. The West, on the contrary, repu-
diated Image- Worship as late as the year 794, in the Council
held at Frankfort ; and, though retaining the images, blamed
most severely the superstition of the Greeks. Not till the later
Middle Ages did Image- Worship meet with universal adoption
as the result of quiet and slow advances.
The Byzantine Empiie was thus distracted by passions of all
kinds within, and pressed by the barbarians — to whom the Em-
perors could offer but feeble resistance — without. The realm
was in a condition of perpetual insecurity. Its general aspect
presents a disgusting picture of imbecility ; wretched, nay, in-
sane passions, stifle the growth of all that is noble in thoughts,
deeds, and persons. Rebellion on the part of generals, deposi-
tions of the Emperors by their means or through the intrigues
of the courtiers, assassination or poisoning of the Emperors
by their own wives and sons, women surrendering themselves
to lusts and abominations of all kinds — such are the scenes
which History here brings before us; till at last — about the
middle of the fifteenth century (a.d. 1453) — tri e rotten edifice
of the Eastern Empire crumbled in pieces before the might of
the vigorous Turks.
PART IV
THE GERMAN WORLD
THE German Spirit is the Spirit of the new World. Its
aim is the realization of absolute Truth as the unilimited
self-determination of Freedom — that Freedom which
has its own absolute form itself as its purport.* The destiny
of the German peoples is, to be the bearers of the Christian
principle. The principle of Spiritual Freedom — of Reconcilia-
tion [of the Objective and Subjective], was introduced into- the
still simple, unformed minds of those peoples ; and the part as-
signed them in the service of the World- Spirit was that of not
merely possessing the Idea of Freedom as the substratum of
their religious conceptions, but of producing it in free and
spontaneous developments from their subjective self-conscious-
ness.
In entering on the task of dividing the German World into
its natural periods, we must remark that we have not, as was
the case in treating of the Greeks and Romans, a double exter-
nal relation — backwards to an earlier World-Historical people,
and forwards to a later one — to guide us. History shows that
the process of development among the peoples now under con-
sideration, was an altogether different one. The Greeks and
Romans had reached maturity within, ere they directed their
energies outwards. The Germans, on the contrary, began with
self-diffusion — deluging the world, and overpowering in their
course the inwardly rotten, hollow political fabrics of the civil-
ized nations. Only then did their development begin, kindled
by a foreign culture, a foreign religion, polity and legislation.
The process of culture they underwent consisted in taking up
* That is: The Supreme Law of the fore is the only absolutely free and un-
Universe is recognized as identical with limited power — is no longer a compul-
the dictates of Conscience — becomes a sory enactment, but the free choice of
" law of liberty." Morality— that author- human beings. The good man would
ity which has the incontestable right to make Law for himself if he found none
determine men's actions, which there- made for him.
341
342 PHILOSOPHY OP HISTOP.Y
foreign elements and reductively amalgamating them with their
own national life. Thus their history presents an introver-
sion — the attraction of alien forms of life and the bringing
these to bear upon their own. In the Crusades, indeed, and
in the discovery of America, the Western World directed its
energies outwards. But it was not thus brought in contact
with a World-Historical people that had preceded it ; it did not
dispossess a principle that had previously governed the world.
The relation to an extraneous principle here only accompanies
[does not constitute] the history — does not bring with it essen-
tial changes in the nature of those conditions which character-
ize the peoples in question, but rather wears the aspect of in-
ternal evolution.* — The relation to o f her countries and periods
is thus entirely different from that sustained by the Greeks and
Romans. For the Christian world is the world of completion ;
the grand principle of being is realized, consequently the end
of days is fully come. The Idea can discover in Christianity
no point in the aspirations of Spirit that is not satisfied. For
its individual members, the Church is, it is true, a preparation
for an eternal state as something future; since the units who
compose it, in their isolated and several capacity, occupy a posi-
tion of particularity : but the Church has also the Spirit of
God actually present in it, it forgives the sinner and is a present
kingdom of heaven. Thus the Christian World has no absolute
existence outside its sphere, but only a relative one which is
already implicitly vanquished, and in respect to which its only
concern is to make it apparent that this conquest has taken
place. Hence it follows that an external reference ceases to
be the characteristic element determining the epochs of the mod-
ern world. We have therefore to look for another principle of
division.
The German World took up the Roman culture and religion
in their completed form. There was indeed a German and
Northern religion, but it had by no means taken deep root in
the soul ; Tacitus therefore calls the Germans : " Securi ad-
versus Deos." The Christian Religion which they adopted, had
received from Councils and Fathers of the Church, who pos-
sessed the whole culture, and in particular, the philosophy of
the Greek and Roman World, a perfected dogmatic system;
* The influence of the Crusades and of reflex. No other phase of humanity was
the discovery of America was simply thereby merged in Christendom.
THE GERMAN WORLD.
343
the Church, too, had a completely developed hierarchy. To
the native tongue of the Germans, the Church likewise opposed
one perfectly developed — the Latin. In art and philosophy a
similar alien influence predominated. What of Alexandrian
and of formal Aristotelian philosophy was still preserved in the
writings of Boethius and elsewhere, became the fixed basis of
speculative thought in the West for many centuries. The same
principle holds in regard to the form of the secular sovereignty.
Gothic and other chiefs gave themselves the name of Roman
Patricians, and at a later date the Roman Empire was restored.
Thus the German world appears, superficially, to be only a
continuation of the Roman. But there lived in it an entirely
new Spirit, through which the World was to be regenerated —
the free Spirit, viz. which reposes on itself — the absolutely self-
determination [Eigensinn] of subjectivity. To this self-in-
volved subjectivity, the corresponding objectivity [Inhalt]
stands opposed as absolutely alien. The distinction and antith-
esis which is evolved from these principles, is that of Church
and State. On the one side, the Church develops itself, as the
embodiment of absolute Truth; for it is the consciousness of
this truth, and at the same time the agency for rendering the
Individual harmonious with it. On the other side stands sec-
ular consciousness, which, with its aims, occupies the world
of Limitation — the State, based on Heart [emotional and thence
social affections] or mutual confidence and subjectivity gener-
ally. European history is the exhibition of the growth of each
of these principles severally, in Church and State ; then of an
antithesis on the part of both — not only of the one to the other,
but appearing within the sphere of each of these bodies them-
selves (since each of them is itself a totality) ; lastly, of the
harmonizing of the antithesis.
The three periods of this world will have to be treated ac-
cordingly.
The first begins with the appearance of the German Nations
in the Roman Empire — the incipient development of these peo-
ples, converts to Christianity, and now established in the pos-
session of the West. Their barbarous and simple character
prevents this initial period from possessing any great interest.
The Christian world then presents itself as " Christendom " —
one mass, in which the Spiritual and the Secular form only dif-
ferent aspects. This epoch extends to Charlemagne.
344
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The second period develops the two sides of the antithesis to
a logically consequential independence and opposition — the
Church for itself as a Theocracy, and the State for itself as a
Feudal Monarchy. Charlemagne had formed an alliance with
the Holy See against the Lombards and the factions of the
nobles in Rome. A union thus arose between the spiritual and
the secular power, and a kingdom of heaven on earth promised
to follow in the wake of this conciliation. But just at this time,
instead of a spiritual kingdom of heaven, the inwardness of the
Christian principle wears the appearance of being altogether
directed outwards and leaving its proper sphere. Christian
Freedom is perverted to its very opposite, both in a religious
and secular respect ; on the one hand to the severest bondage,
on the other hand to the most immoral excess — a barbarous
intensity of every passion. In this period two aspects of society
are to be especially noticed : the first is the formation of states
— superior and inferior suzerainties exhibiting a regulated sub-
ordination, so that every relation becomes a firmly-fixed private
right, excluding a sense of universality. This regulated sub-
ordination appears in the Feudal System. The second aspect
presents the antithesis of Church and State. This antithesis
exists solely because the Church, to whose management the
Spiritual was committed, itself sinks down into every kind of
worldliness — a worldliness which appears only the more de-
testable, because all passions assume the sanction of religion.
The time of Charles V's reign — i.e., the first half of the
sixteenth century — forms the end of the second, and likewise
the beginning of the third period. Secularity appears now as
gaining a consciousness of its intrinsic worth — becomes aware
of its having a value of its own in the morality, rectitude, prob-
ity and activity of man. The consciousness of independent
validity is aroused through the restoration of Christian free-
dom. The Christian principle has now passed through the
terrible discipline of culture, and it first attains truth and reality
through the Reformation. This third period of the German
World extends from the Reformation to our own times. The
principle of Free Spirit is here made the banner of the World,
and from this principle are evolved the universal axioms of
Reason. Formal Thought — the Understanding — had been al-
ready developed; but Thought received its true material first
with the Reformation, through the reviviscent concrete con-
THE GERMAN WORLD.
345
sciousness of Free Spirit. From that epoch Thought began
to gain a culture properly its own: principles were derived
from it which were to be the norm for the constitution of the
State. Political life was now to be consciously regulated by
Reason. Customary morality, traditional usage lost its valid-
ity; the various claims insisted upon, must prove their legit-
imacy as based on rational principles. Not till this era is the
Freedom of Spirit realized.
We may distinguish these periods as Kingdoms of the Father,
i the Son, and the Spirit.* The Kingdom of the Father is the
consolidated, undistinguished mass, presenting a self-repeating
cycle, mere change — like that sovereignty of Chronos engulfing
his offspring. The Kingdom of the Son is the manifestation
of God merely in a relation to secular existence — shining upon
it as upon an alien object. The Kingdom of the Spirit is the
harmonizing of the antithesis.
These epochs may be also compared with the earlier em-
pires. In the German aeon, as the realm of Totality, we see the
distinct repetition of the earlier epochs. Charlemagne's time
may be compared with the Persian Empire ; it is the period of
substantial unity — this unity having its foundation in the inner
man, the Heart, and both in the Spiritual and the Secular still
abiding in its simplicity. y
To the Greek world and its merely ideal unity, the time pre-
ceding Charles V answers ; where real unity no longer exists,
because all phases of particularity have become fixed in privi-
leges and peculiar rights. As in the interior of the realms them-
selves, the different estates of the realm, with their several
claims, are isolated, so do the various states in their foreign
aspects occupy a merely external relation to each other. A
diplomatic policy arises, which in the interest of a European
balance of power, unites them with and against each other.
It is the time in which the world becomes clear and manifest
to itself (Discovery of America). So too does consciousness
*The conception of a mystical regnum munion ensues between God in Christ
Patris } regnum Filii and regnum Spiritus and the Regenerated, when God is " all
Sancti is perfectly familiar to metaphysi- in all." This remark may serve to pre-
cal theologians. The first represents the vent misconception as to the tone of the
period in which Deity is not yet mani- remainder of the paragraph. The men-
fested— remains self-involved. The sec- tion of the Greek myth will appear perti-
ond is that of manifestation in an indi- nent in the view of those who admit
vidual being, standing apart from man- what seems a very reasonable explana-
kind generally—" the Son." The third tion of it— viz., as an adumbration of the
is that in which this barrier is broken self-involved character of the prehistori-
down, and as intimate mystical com- cal period.
346 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
gain clearness in the supersensuous world and respecting it.
Substantial objective religion brings itself to sensuous clearness
in the sensuous element (Christian Art in the age of Pope Leo),
and also becomes clear to itself in the element of inmost truth.
We may compare this time with that of Pericles. The intro-
version of Spirit begins (Socrates — Luther), though Pericles
is wanting in this epoch. Charles V possesses enormous pos-
sibilities in point of outward appliances, and appears absolute
in his power ; but the inner spirit of Pericles, and therefore the
absolute means of establishing a free sovereignty, are not in him.
This is the epoch when Spirit becomes clear to itself in separa-
tions occurring in the realm of reality; now the distinct ele-
ments of the German world manifest their essential nature.
The third epoch may be compared with the Roman World.
The unity of a universal principle is here quite as decidedly
present, yet not as the unity of abstract universal sovereignty,
but as the Hegemony of self-cognizant Thought. The au-
thority of Rational Aim is acknowledged, and privileges and
particularities melt away before the common object of the
State. Peoples will the Right in and for itself; regard is not
had exclusively to particular conventions between nations, but
principles enter into the considerations with which diplomacy
is occupied. As little can Religion maintain itself apart from
Thought, but either advances to the comprehension of the Idea,
or, compelled by thought itself, becomes intensive belief — or
lastly, from despair of finding itself at home in thought, flees
back from it in pious horror, and becomes Superstition.
SECTION I
THE ELEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN GERMAN
WORLD
Chapter I. — The Barbarian Migrations.
RESPECTING this first period, we have on the whole
little to say, for it affords us comparatively slight mate-
rials for reflection. We will not follow the Germans
back into their forests, nor investigate the origin of their migra-
tions. Those forests of theirs have always passed for the abodes
of free peoples, and Tacitus sketched his celebrated picture of
Germany with a certain love and longing — contrasting it with
the corruption and artificiality of that world to which he himself
belonged. But we must not on this account regard such a state
of barbarism as an exalted one, or fall into some such error
as Rousseau's, who represents the condition of the American
savages as one in which man is in possession of true freedom.
Certainly there is an immense amount of misfortune and sor-
row of which the savage knows nothing; but this is a merely
negative advantage, while freedom is essential positive. It is
only the blessings conferred by affirmative freedom that are
regarded as such in the highest grade of consciousness.
Our first acquaintance with the Germans finds each individual
enjoying an independent freedom ; and yet there is a certain
community of feeling and interest, though not yet matured to
a political condition. Next we see them inundating the Roman
empire. It was partly the fertility of its domains, partly the
necessity of seeking other habitations, that furnished the in-
citing cause. In spite of the wars in which they engage with
the Romans, individuals, and even entire clans, enter their
service as soldiers. Even so early as the battle of Pharsalia we
find German cavalry united with the Roman forces of Caesar.
In military service and intercourse with civilized peoples, they
became acquainted with their advantages — advantages tending
Vol. 23 P-ClSsica
348 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
to the enjoyment and convenience of life, but also, and princi-
pally, those of mental cultivation. In the later emigrations,
many nations — some entirely, others partially — remained be-
hind in their original abodes.
Accordingly, a distinction must be made between the German
nations who remained in their ancient habitations and those
who spread themselves over the Roman empire, and mingled
with the conquered peoples. Since in their migratory expedi-
tions the Germans attached themselves to their leaders of their
own free choice, we find a peculiar duplicate condition of the
great Teutonic families (Eastern and Western Goths; Goths
in all parts of the world and in their original country ; Scandi-
navians and Normans in Norway, but also appearing as
knightly adventurers in the wide world). However different
might be the fates of these peoples, they nevertheless had one
aim in common — to procure themselves possessions, and to
develop themselves in the direction of political organization.
This process of growth is equally characteristic of all. In the
West — in Spain and Portugal — the Suevi and Vandals are the
first settlers, but are subdued and dispossessed by the Visigoths.
A great Visigothic kingdom was established, to which Spain,
Portugal, and a part of Southern France belonged. The second
kingdom is that of the Franks — a name which, from the end
of the second century, was given in common to the Istasvonian
races between the Rhine and the Weser. They established
themselves between the Moselle and the Scheldt, and under
their leader, Clovis, pressed forward into Gaul as far as the
Loire. He afterwards reduced the Franks on the Lower Rhine,
and the Alemanni on the Upper Rhine; his sons subjugated
the Thuringians and Burgundians. The third kingdom is that
of the Ostrogoths in Italy, founded by Theodoric, and highly
flourishing beneath his rule. The learned Romans Cassiodorus
and Boethius filled the highest offices of state under Theodoric.
But this Ostrogothic kingdom did not last long; it was de-
stroyed by the Byzantines under Belisarius and Narses. In
the second half (568) of the sixth century, the Lombards in-
vaded Italy and ruled for two centuries, till this kingdom also
was subjected to the Frank sceptre by Charlemagne. At a
later date, the Normans also established themselves in Lower
Italy. Our attention is next claimed by the Burgundians, who
were subjugated by the Franks, and whose kingdom forms a
THE GERMAN WORLD 349
kind of partition wall between France and Germany. The
Angles and Saxons entered Britain and reduced it under their
sway. Subsequently, the Normans make their appearance here
also.
These countries — previously a part of the Roman empire —
thus experienced the fate of subjugation by the Barbarians.
In the first instance, a great contrast presented itself between
the already civilized inhabitants of those countries and the vic-
tors; but this contrast terminated in the hybrid character of
the new nations that were now formed. The whole mental
and moral existence of such states exhibits a divided aspect;
in their inmost being we have characteristics that point to an
alien origin. This distinction strikes us even on the surface,
in their language, which is an intermixture of the ancient Ro-
man — already united with the vernacular — and the German.
We may class these nations together as Romanic — comprehend-
ing thereby Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. Contrasted
with these stand three others, more or less German-speaking
nations, which have maintained a consistent tone of uninter-
rupted fidelity to native character — Germany itself, Scandi-
navia, and England. The last was, indeed, incorporated in the
Roman empire, but was affected by Roman culture little more
than superficially — like Germany itself — and was again Ger-
manized by Angles and Saxons. Germany Proper kept itself
pure from any admixture ; only the southern and western bor-
der — on the Danube and the Rhine — had been subjugated by
the Romans. The portion between the Rhine and the Elbe
remained thoroughly national. This part of Germany was in-
habited by several tribes. Besides the Ripuarian Franks and
those established by Clovis in the districts of the Maine, four
leading tribes — the Alemanni, the Boioarians, the Thuringians,
and the Saxons — must be mentioned. The Scandinavians re-
tained in their fatherland a similar purity from intermixture;
and also made themselves celebrated by their expeditions, under
the name of Normans. They extended their chivalric enter-
prises over almost all parts of Europe. Part of them went to
Russia, and there became the founders of the Russian Empire ;
part settled in Northern France and Britain; another estab-
lished principalities in Lower Italy and Sicily. Thus a part
of the Scandinavians founded states in foreign lands, another
maintained its nationality by the ancestral hearth,
350 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
We find, moreover, in the East of Europe, the great Sclavoni
nation, whose settlements extended west of the Elbe to the Dan-
ube. The Magyars (Hungarians) settled in between them.
In Moldavia, Wallachia and northern Greece appear the Bul-
garians, Servians, and Albanians, likewise of Asiatic origin —
left behind as broken barbarian remains in the shocks and
counter-shocks of the advancing hordes. These people did,
indeed, found kingdoms and sustain spirited conflicts with the
various nations that came across their path. Sometimes, as an
advanced guard — an intermediate nationality — they took part
in the struggle between Christian Europe and unchristian Asia.
The Poles even liberated beleaguered Vienna from the Turks ;
and the Sclaves have to some extent been drawn within the
sphere of Occidental Reason. Yet this entire body of peoples
remains excluded from our consideration, because hitherto it
has not appeared as an independent element in the series of
phases that Reason has assumed in the World. Whether it
will do so hereafter, is a question that does not concern us
here; for in History we have to do with the Past.
The German Nation was characterized by the sense of Nat-
ural Totality — an idiosyncrasy which we may call Heart [Ge-
muth] .* " Heart " is that undeveloped, indeterminate totality
of Spirit, in reference to the Will, in which satisfaction of soul
is attained in a correspondingly general and indeterminate way.
Character is a particular form of will and interest asserting
itself; but the quality in question [Gemiithlichkeit] has no par-
ticular aim — riches, honor, or the like ; in fact does not concern
itself with any objective condition [a " position in the world "
in virtue of wealth, dignity, etc.] but with the entire condition
of the soul — a general sense of enjoyment. Will in the case
of such an idiosyncrasy is exclusively formal Will f — its purely
* The word " Gemtith " has no exactly For however rigid the restraints which
corresponding term in English. It is those principles impose on individuals,
used further on synonymously with they are the result of no extraneous
" Herz," and the openness to various compulsion brought to bear on the corn-
emotions and impressions which it im- munity at large, and are recognized as
plies, may perhaps be approximately rightfully authoritative even by the in-
rendered by " Heart." Yet it is but an dividuals whose physical comfort or rela-
awkward substitute. tive affections they most painfully con-
t Formal Will or Subjective Freedom travene. Unquestioning homage to un-
is inclination or mere casual liking, and reasonable despotism, and the severe
is opposed to Substantial or Objective rubrics of religious penance, can be
Will — also called Objective Freedom— traced to no natural necessity or stimu-
which denotes the principles that form lus ab extra. The principles in which
the basis of society, and that have been these originate, may rather be called the
spontaneously adopted by particular na- settled and supreme determination of the
tions or by mankind generally. The lat- community that recognizes them. The
ter as well as the former may lay claim term " Objective Will " seems therefore
to being a manifestation of Human Will. not unfitly used to describe the psycho-
THE GERMAN WORLD
351
subjective Freedom exhibits itself as self-will. To the dispo-
sition thus designated, every particular object of attraction
seems important, for " Heart " surrenders itself entirely to
each ; but as, on the other hand, it is not interested in the quality
of such aim in the abstract, it does not become exclusively ab-
sorbed in that aim, so as to pursue it with violent and evil pas-
sion — does not go the length of abstract vice. In the idiosyn-
crasy we term " Heart," no such absorption of interest presents
itself ; it wears, on the whole, the appearance of " well-mean-
ing." Character is its direct opposite.*
This is the abstract principle innate in the German peoples,
and that subjective side which they present to the objective in
Christianity. " Heart " has no particular object ; in Christianity
we have the Absolute Object [i.e. it is concerned with the entire
range of Truth] — all that can engage and occupy human sub-
jectivity. Now it is the desire of satisfaction without further
definition or restriction, that is involved in " Heart " ; and it is
exactly that for which we found an appropriate application in
the principle of Christianity. The Indefinite as Substance, in
objectivity, is the purely Universal — God; while the reception
of the individual will to a participation in His favor, is the com-
plementary element in the Christian concrete Unity. The ab-
solutely Universal is that which contains in it all determinations,
and in virtue of this is itself indeterminate. Subject [individual
personality] is the absolutely determinate; and these two are
identical.! This was exhibited above as the material content
[Inhalt] in Christianity; here we find it subjectively as
" Heart." Subject [Personality] must then also gain an ob-
jective form, that is, be expanded to an object. It is necessary
logical phenomena in question. The manifestly objective, all that is evidently
term " Substantial Will " (as opposed to Not-Self, but also abstracts from any
" Formal Will ")> denoting the same peculiar conditions that may temporarily
phenomena, needs nc defence or expla- adhere to it, e.g. youth or age, riches or
nation. The third term, " Objective poverty, a present or a future state.
Freedom," used synonymously with the Thus though it seems, prima facie, a
two preceding, is justified on the ground fixed point or atom, it is absolutely un-
of the unlimited dominion exercised by limited. By loss or degradation of bodily
such principles as those mentioned and mental faculties, it is possible to con-
above. " Deus solus liber." (See re- ceive one's self degraded to a position
marks to this effect on page 35 of the In- which it would be impossible to distin-
troduction, and elsewhere.) guish from that which we attribute to
* An incapacity for conspiracy has been the brutes, or by increase and improve-
remarked as a characteristic feature of ment of those faculties, indefinitely ele-
the Teutonic portion of the inhabitants vated in the scale of being, while yet self
of the British Isles, as compared with — personal identity — is retained. On the
their Celtic countrymen. If such a dif- other hand, Absolute Being in the Chris-
ference can be substantiated, we seem tian concrete view, is an Infinite Self,
to have an important illustration and The Absolutely Limited is thus shown
confirmation of Hegel's view. — Ed. to be identical with the Absolutely Un-
t Pure Self — pure subjectivity or per- limited,
sonality — not only excludes all that is
352 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
that for the indefinite susceptibilty which we designate
" Heart," the Absolute also should assume the form of an Ob-
ject, in order that man on his part may attain a consciousness
of his unity with that object. But this recognition of the Abso-
lute [in Christ] requires the purification of man's subjectivity
— requires it to become a real, concrete self, a sharer in general
interests as a denizen of the world at large, and that it should
act in accordance with large and liberal aims, recognize Law,
and find satisfaction in it. — Thus we find here two principles
corresponding the one with the other, and recognize the adap-
tation of the German peoples to be, as we stated above, the
bearers of the higher principle of Spirit.
We advance then to the consideration of the German prin-
ciple in its primary phase of existence, i.e. the earliest historical
condition of the German nations. Their quality of " Heart "
is in its first appearance quite abstract, undeveloped and desti-
tute of any particular object; for substantial aims are not in-
volved in " Heart " itself. Where this susceptibilty stands
alone, it appears as a want of character — mere inanity.
" Heart " as purely abstract, is dulness ; thus we see in the
original condition of the Germans a barbarian dulness, mental
confusion and vagueness, ( Of the Religion of the Germans
we know little. — The Druids belonged to Gaul and were extir-
pated by the Romans. There was indeed, a peculiar northern
mythology ; but how slight a hold the religion of the Germans
had upon their hearts, has been already remarked, and it is
also evident from the fact that the Germans were easily con-
verted to Christianity. The Saxons, it is true, offered consid-
erable resistance to Charlemagne ; but this was directed, not
so much against the religion he brought with him, as against
oppression itself. Their religion had no profundity; and the
same may be said of their ideas of law. Murder was not re-
garded and punished as a crime : it was expiated by a pecuniary
fine. This indicates a deficiency in depth of sentiment — that
absence of a power of abstraction and discrimination that marks
their peculiar temperament [Nichtentzweitseyn des Gemiithes]
— a temperament which leads them to regard it only as an in-
jury to the community when one of its members is killed, and
nothing further. The blood-revenge of the Arabs is based on
the feeling that the honor of the Family is injured. Among
the Germans the community had no dominion over the indi-
THE GERMAN WORLD
353
vidual, for the element of freedom is the first consideration in
their union in a social relationship. The ancient Germans were
famed for their love of freedom ; the Romans formed a correct
idea of them in this particular from the first. Freedom has
been the watchword in Germany down to the most recent times,
and even the league of princes under Frederick II had its ori-
gin in the love of liberty. This element of freedom, in passing
over to a social relationship, can establish only popular com-
munities ; so that these communities constitute the whole state,
and every member of the community, as such, is a free man.
Homicide could be expiated by a pecuniary mulct, because the
individuality of the free man was regarded as sacred — perma-
nently and inviolably — whatever he might have done. The
community or its presiding power, with the assistance of mem-
bers of the community, delivered judgment in affairs of private
right, with a view to the protection of person and property.
For affairs affecting the body politic at large — for wars and
similar contingencies — the whole community had to be con-
sulted. The second point to be observed is, that social nuclei
were formed by free confederation, and by voluntary attach-
ment to military leaders and princes. The connection in this
case was that of Fidelity; for Fidelity is the second watchword
of the Germans, as Freedom was the first. Individuals attach
themselves with free choice to an individual, and without ex-
ternal prompting make this relation an inviolable one. This
we find neither among the Greeks nor the Romans. The rela-
tion of Agamemnon and the princes who accompanied him was
not that of feudal suit and service: it was a free association
merely for a particular purpose — a Hegemony. But the Ger-
man confederations have their being not in a relation to a mere
external aim or cause, but in a relation to the spiritual self —
the subjective inmost personality. Heart, disposition, the con-
crete subjectivity in its integrity, which does not attach itself
to any abstract bearing of an object, but regards the whole of
it as a condition of attachment — making itself dependent on
the person and the cause — renders this relation a compound of
fidelity to a person and obedience to a principle.
The union of the two relations — of individual freedom in
the community, and of the bond implied in association — is the
main point in the formation of the State. In this, duties and
rights are no longer left to arbitrary choice, but are determined
354 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
as fixed relations ; — involving, moreover, the condition that the
State be the soul of the entire body, and remain its sovereign —
that from it should be derived particular aims and the authoriza-
tion both of political acts and political agents — the generic char-
acter and interests of the community constituting the permanent
basis of the whole. But here we have the peculiarity of the
German states, that contrary to the view thus presented, social
relations do not assume the character of general definitions and
laws, but are * atirely split up into private rights and private
obligations Ihty perhaps exhibit a social or communal mould
or stamp, but nothing universal; the laws are absolutely par-
ticular, and the Rights are Privileges. Thus the state was a
patchwork of private rights, and a rational political life was
the tardy issue of wearisome struggles and convulsions.
We have said, that the Germans were predestined to be the
bearers of the Christian principle, and to carry out the Idea as
the absolutely Rational aim. In the first instance we have only
vague volition, in the background of which lies the True and
Infinite. The True is present only as an unsolved problem, for
their Soul is not yet purified. A long process is required to
complete this purification so as to realize concrete Spirit. Re-
ligion comes forward with a challenge to the violence of the
passions, and rouses them to madness. The excess of passions
is aggravated by evil conscience, and heightened to an insane
rage; which perhaps would not have been the case, had that
opposition been absent. We behold the terrible spectacle of the
most fearful extravagance of passion in all the royal houses
of that period. Clovis, the founder of the Frank Monarchy,
is stained with the blackest crimes. Barbarous harshness and
cruelty characterize all the succeeding Merovingians ; the same
spectacle is repeated in the Thuringian and other royal houses.
The Christian principle is certainly the problem implicit in their
souls; but these are primarily still crude. The Will — poten-
tially true — mistakes itself, and separates itself from the true
and proper aim by particular, limited aims. Yet it is in this
struggle with itself and contrariety to its bias, that it realizes
its wishes ; it contends against the object which it really de-
sires, and thus accomplishes it ; for implicitly, potentially, it is
reconciled. The Spirit of God lives in the Church; it is the
inward impelling Spirit. But it is in the World that Spirit
is to be realized — in a material not yet brought into harmony
THE GERMAN WORLD 355
with it. Now this material is the Subjective Will, which thus
has a contradiction in itself. On the religious side, we often
observe a change of this kind : a man who has all his life been
fighting and hewing his way — who with all vehemence of char-
acter and passion, has struggled and revelled in secular occu-
pations — on a sudden repudiates it all, to betake himself to
religious seclusion. But in the World, secular business cannot
be thus repudiated ; it demands accomplishment, and ultimately
the discovery is made, that Spirit finds the goal of its struggle
and its harmonization, in that very sphere which it made the
object of its resistance — it finds that secular pursuits are a spir-
itual occupation.
We thus observe, that individuals and peoples regard that
which is their misfortune, as their greatest happiness, and con-
versely, struggle against their happiness as their greatest mis-
ery. La verite, en la repoussant, on V embrasse. Europe comes
to the truth while, and to the degree in which, she has repulsed
it. It is in the agitation thus occasioned, that Providence es-
pecially exercises its sovereignty; realizing its absolute aim —
its honor — as the result of unhappiness, sorrow, private aims
and the unconscious will of the nations of the earth.
While, therefore, in the West this long process in the world's
history — necessary to that purification by which Spirit in the
concrete is realized — is commencing, the purification requisite
for developing Spirit in the abstract which we observe carried
on contemporaneously in the East, is more quickly accom-
plished. The latter does not need a long process, and we see
it produced rapidly, even suddenly, in the first half of the
seventh century, in Mahometanism.
Chapter It— Mohametanism
On the one hand we see the European world forming itself
anew — the nations taking firm root there, to produce a world
of free reality expanded and developed in every direction. We
behold them beginning their work by bringing all social rela-
tions under the form of particularity — with dull and narrow in-
telligence splitting that which in its nature is generic and nor-
mal, into a multitude of chance contingencies ; rendering that
which ought to be simple principle and law, a tangled web of
convention. In short, while the West began to shelter itself
356 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in a political edifice of chance, entanglement and particularity,
the very opposite direction necessarily made its appearance in
the world, to produce the balance of the totality of spiritual
manifestation. This took place in the Revolution of the East,
which destroyed all particularity and dependence, and perfectly
cleared up and purified the soul and disposition; making the
abstract One the absolute object of attention and devotion, and
to the same extent, pure subjective consciousness— the Knowl-
edge of this One alone — the only aim of reality; — making the
Unconditioned [das Verhaltnisslose] the condition [Verhalt-
niss] of existence.
We have already become acquainted with the nature of the
Oriental principle, and seen that its Highest Being is only
negative ; — that with it the positive imports an abandonment
to mere nature — the enslavement of Spirit to the world of real-
ities. Only among the Jews have we observed the principle
of pure Unity elevated to a thought ; for only among them was
adoration paid to the One, as an object of thought. This unity
then remained, when the purification of the mind to the concep-
tion of abstract Spirit had been accomplished ; but it was freed
from the particularity by which the worship of Jehovah had
been hampered. Jehovah was only the God of that one people —
the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob : only with the Jews
had this God made a covenant; only to this people had he re-
vealed himself. That speciality of relation was done away with
in Mahometanism. In this spiritual universality, in this un-
limited and indefinite purity and simplicity of conception, hu-
man personality has no other aim than the realization of this
universality and simplicity. Allah has not the affirmative, lim-
ited aim of the Judaic God. The worship of the One is the only
final aim of Mahometanism, and subjectivity has this worship
for the sole occupation of its activity, combined with the design
to subjugate secular existence to the One. This One has in-
deed, the quality of Spirit; yet because subjectivity suffers
itself to be absorbed in the object, this One is deprived of every
concrete predicate ; so that neither does subjectivity become on
its part spiritually free, nor on the other hand is the object of its
veneration concrete. But Mahometanism is not the Hindoo,
not the Monastic immersion in the Absolute. Subjectivity is
here living and unlimited — an energy which enters into secular
life with a purely negative purpose, and busies itself and inter-
THE GERMAN WORLD 357
feres with the world, only in such a way as shall promote the
pure adoration of the One. The object of Mahometan worship
is purely intellectual ; no image, no representation of Allah is
tolerated. Mahomet is a prophet but still man — not elevated
above human weaknesses. The leading features of Mahome-
tanism involve this — that in actual existence nothing can be-
come fixed, but that everything is destined to expand itself in
activity and life in the boundless amplitude of the world, so
that the worship of the One remains the only bond by which the
whole is capable of uniting. In this expansion, this active en-
ergy, all limits, all national and caste distinctions vanish; no
particular race, political claim of birth or possession is regarded
— only man as a believer. To adore the One, to believe in him,
to fast — to remove the sense of speciality and consequent sepa-
ration from the Infinite, arising from corporeal limitation — and
to give alms — that is, to get rid of particular private possession
— these are the essence of Mahometan injunctions; but the
highest meed is to die for the Faith. He who perishes for it
in battle is sure of Paradise.
The Mahometan religion originated among the Arabs. Here
Spirit exists in its simplest form, and the sense of the Form-
less has its especial abode ; for in their deserts nothing can be
brought into a firm consistent shape. The flight of Mahomet
from Mecca in the year 622 is the Moslem era. Even during
his life, and under his own leadership, but especially by follow-
ing up his designs after his death under the guidance of his
successors, the Arabs achieved their vast conquests. They first
came down upon Syria and conquered its capital Damascus in
the year 634. They then passed the Euphrates and Tigris and
turned their arms against Persia, which soon submitted to them.
In the West they conquered Egypt, Northern Africa and Spain,
and pressed into Southern France as far as the Loire, where
they were defeated by Charles Martel near Tours, a.d. 732.
Thus the dominion of the Arabs extended itself in the West.
In the East they reduced successively Persia, as already stated,
Samarkand, and the Southwestern part of Asia Minor. These
conquests, as also the spread of their religion, took place with
extraordinary rapidity. Whoever became a convert to Islam
gained a perfect equality of rights with all Mussulmans. Those
who rejected it, were, during the earliest period, slaughtered.
Subsequently, however, the Arabs behaved more leniently to the
35* PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
conquered ; so that if they were unwilling to go over to Islam,
they were only required to pay an annual poll-tax. The towns
that immediately submitted, were obliged to pay the victor a
tithe of all their possessions ; those which had to be captured,
a fifth.
Abstraction swayed the minds of the Mahometans. Their
object was, to establish an abstract worship, and they struggled
for its accomplishment with the greatest enthusiasm. This
enthusiasm was Fanaticism, that is, an enthusiasm for some-
thing abstract — for an abstract thought which sustains a nega-
tive position towards the established order of things. It is
the essence of fanaticism to bear only a desolating destructive
relation to the concrete ; but that of Mahometanism was, at the
same time, capable of the greatest elevation — an elevation free
from all petty interests, and united with all the virtues that ap-
pertain to magnanimity and valor. La religion et la terreur
were the principles in this case, as with Robespierre la liberie et
la terreur. But real life is nevertheless concrete, and introduces
particular aims; conquest leads to sovereignty and wealth, to
the conferring of prerogatives on a dynastic family, and to a
union of individuals. But all this is only contingent and built
on sand ; it is to-day, and to-morrow is not. With all the pas-
sionate interest he shows, the Mahometan is really indifferent
to this social fabric, and rushes on in the ceaseless whirl of for-
tune. In its spread Mahometanism founded many kingdoms
and dynasties. On this boundless sea there is a continual on-
ward movement ; nothing abides firm. Whatever curls up into
a form remains all the while transparent, and in that very in-
stant glides away. Those dynasties were destitute of the bond
of an organic firmness: the kingdoms, therefore, did nothing
but degenerate ; the individuals that composed them simply
vanished. Where, however, a noble soul makes itself promi-
nent — like a billow in the surging of the sea — it manifests itself
in a majesty of freedom, such that nothing more noble, more
generous, more valiant, more devoted was ever witnessed. The
particular determinate object which the individual embraces
is grasped by him entirely — with the whole soul. While Euro-
peans are involved in a multitude of relations, and form, so to
speak, " a bundle " of them — in Mahometanism the individual
is one passion and that alone; he is superlatively cruel, cun-
ning, bold, or generous. Where the sentiment of love exists.
THE GERMAN WORLD 359
there is an equal abandon — love the most fervid. The ruler
who loves the slave, glorifies the object of his love by laying at
his feet all his magnificence, power and honor — forgetting scep-
tre and throne for him ; but on the other hand he will sacrifice
him just as recklessly. This reckless fervor shows itself also
in the glowing warmth of the Arab and Saracen poetry. That
glow is the perfect freedom of fancy from every fetter — an
absorption in the life of its object and the sentiment it inspires,
so that selfishness and egotism are utterly banished.
Never has enthusiasm, as such, performed greater deeds.
Individuals may be enthusiastic for what is noble and exalted in
various particular forms. The enthusiasm of a people for its
independence, has also a definite aim. But abstract and there-
fore all-comprehensive enthusiasm — restrained by nothing,
finding its limits nowhere, and absolutely indifferent to all be-
side — is that of the Mahometan East.
Proportioned to the rapidity of the Arab conquests, was the
speed with which the arts and sciences attained among them
their highest bloom. At first we see the conquerors destroy-
ing everything connected with art and science. Omar is said
to have caused the destruction of the noble Alexandrian library.
" These books," said he, " either contain what is in the Koran,
or something else : in either case they are superfluous." But
soon afterwards the Arabs became zealous in promoting the
arts and spreading them everywhere. Their empire reached
the summit of its glory under the Caliphs Al-Mansor and
Haroun Al-Raschid. Large cities arose in all parts of the em-
pire, where commerce and manufactures flourished, splendid
palaces were built, and schools created. The learned men of
the empire assembled at the Caliph's court, which not merely
shone outwardly with the pomp of the costliest jewels, furni-
ture and palaces, but was resplendent with the glory of poetry
and all the sciences. At first the Caliphs still maintained entire
that simplicity and plainness which characterized the Arabs of
the desert, (the Caliph Abubeker is particularly famous in this
respect,) and which acknowledged no distinction of station and
culture. The meanest Saracen, the most insignificant old
woman, approached the Caliph as an equal. Unreflecting
naivete does not stand in need of culture ; and in virtue of the
freedom of his Spirit, each one sustains a relation of equality
to the ruler.
360 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
The great empire of the Caliphs did not last long: for on
the basis presented by Universality nothing is firm. The great
Arabian empire fell about the same time as that of the Franks :
thrones were demolished by slaves and by fresh invading hordes
— the Seljuks and Mongols — and new kingdoms founded, new
dynasties raised to the throne. The Osman race at last suc-
ceeded in establishing a firm dominion, by forming for them-
selves a firm centre in the Janizaries. Fanaticism having cooled
down, no moral principle remained in men's souls. In the
struggle with the Saracens, European valor had idealized itself
to a fair and noble chivalry. Science and knowledge, espe-
cially that of philosophy, came from the Arabs into the West.
A noble poetry and free imagination were kindled among the
Germans by the East — a fact which directed Goethe's attention
to the Orient and occasioned the composition of a string of lyric
pearls, in his " Divan," which in warmth and felicity of fancy
cannot be surpassed. But the East itself, when by degrees en-
thusiasm had vanished, sank into the grossest vice. The most
hideous passions became dominant, and as sensual enjoyment
was sanctioned in the first form which Mahometan doctrine
assumed, and was exhibited as a reward of the faithful in Para-
dise, it took the place of fanaticism. At present, driven back
into its Asiatic and African quarters, and tolerated only in one
corner of Europe through the jealousy of Christian Powers, Is-
lam has long vanished from the stage of history at large, and
has retreated into Oriental ease and repose.
Chapter III. — The Empire of Charlemagne
The empire of the Franks, as already stated, was founded by
Clovis. After his death, it was divided among his sons. Sub-
sequently, after many struggles and the employment of treach-
ery, assassination and violence, it was again united, and once
more divided. Internally the power of the kings was very much
increased, by their having become princes in conquered lands.
These were indeed parcelled out among the Frank freemen ;
but very considerable permanent revenues accrued to the king,
together with what had belonged to the emperors, and the spoils
of confiscation. These therefore the king bestowed as per-
sonal, i.e. not heritable, beneiicia, on his warriors, who in receiv-
ing them entered into a personal obligation to him — became his
THE GERMAN WORLD 361
vassals and formed his feudal array. The very opulent Bishops
were united with them in constituting the King's Council,
which however did not circumscribe the royal authority. At the
head of the feudal array was the Major Domus. These Ma-
jores Domus soon assumed the entire power and threw the
royal authority into the shade, while the kings sank into a tor-
pid condition and became mere puppets. From the former
sprang the dynasty of the Carlovingians. Pepin le Bref, the
son of Charles Martel, was in the year 752 raised to the dignity
of King of the Franks. Pope Zacharias released the Franks
from their oath of allegiance to the still living Childeric III —
the last of the Merovingians — who received the tonsure, i.e.
became a monk, and was thus deprived of the royal distinction
of long hair. The last of the Merovingians were utter weak-
lings, who contented themselves with the name of royalty, and
gave themselves up almost entirely to luxury — a phenomenon
that is quite common in the dynasties of the East, and is also
met with again among the last of the Carlovingians. The
Majores Domus, on the contrary, were in the very vigor of
ascendant fortunes, and were in such close alliance with the
feudal nobility, that it became easy for them ultimately to se-
cure the throne.
The Popes were most severely pressed by the Lombard kings
and sought protection from the Franks. Out of gratitude
Pepin undertook to defend Stephen II. He led an army twice
across the Alps, and twice defeated the Lombards. His vic-
tories gave splendor to his newly established throne, and en-
tailed a considerable heritage on the Chair of St. Peter. In
a.d. 800 the son of Pepin — Charlemagne — was crowned Em-
peror by the Pope, and hence originated the firm union of the
Carlovingians with the Papal See. For the Roman Empire
continued to enjoy among the barbarians the prestige of a great
power, and was ever regarded by them as the centre from which
civil dignities, religion, laws and all branches of knowledge — ■
beginning with written characters themselves — flowed to them.
Charles Martel, after he had delivered Europe from Saracen
domination, was — himself and his successors — dignified with
the title of " Patrician " by the people and senate of Rome ; but
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor, and that by the Pope
himself.
There were now, therefore, tivo Empires, and in them the
362 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Christian confession was gradually divided into two Churches,
the Greek and the Roman. The Roman Emperor was the born
defender of the Roman Church, and this position of the Em-
peror towards the Pope seemed to declare that the Frank sov-
ereignty was only a continuation of the Roman Empire.
The Empire of Charlemagne had a very considerable ex-
tent. Franconia Proper stretched from the Rhine to the Loire.
Aquitania, south of the Loire, was in 768 — the year of Pepin's
death — entirely subjugated. The Frank Empire also included
Burgundy, Alemannia (southern Germany between the Lech,
the Maine and the Rhine), Thuringia, which extended to the
Saale, and Bavaria. Charlemagne likewise conquered the Sax-
ons, who dwelt between the Rhine and the Weser, and put an
end to the Lombard dominion, so that he became master of
Upper and Central Italy.
This great empire Charlemagne formed into a systematically
organized State, and gave the Frank dominion settled institu-
tions adapted to impart to it strength and consistency. This
must however not be understood, as if he first introduced the
Constitution of his empire in its whole extent, but as implying
that institutions partly already in existence, were developed
under his guidance, and attained a more decided and unob-
structed efficiency. The King stood at the head of the officers
of the empire, and the principle of hereditary monarchy was al-
ready recognized. The King was likewise master of the armed
force, as also the largest landed proprietor, while the supreme
judicial power was equally in his hands. The military constitu-
tion was based on the " arriere-ban." Every freeman was
bound to arm for the defence of the realm, and had to provide
for his support in the field for a certain time. This militia (as
it would now be called) was under the command of Counts and
Margraves, which latter presided over large districts on the
borders of the empire — the " Marches." According to the gen-
eral partition of the country, it was divided into provinces [or
counties], over each of which a Count presided. Over them
again, under the later Carlovingians, were Dukes, whose seats
were large cities, such as Cologne, Ratisbon, and the like.
Their office gave occasion to the division of the country into
Duchies : thus there was a Duchy of Alsatia, Lorraine, Frisia,
Thuringia, Rhsetia. These Dukes were appointed by the Em-
peror. Peoples that had retained their hereditary princes aftej
THE GERMAN WORLD 363
their subjugation, lost this privilege and received Dukes, when
they revolted; this was the case with Alemannia, Thuringia,
Bavaria, and Saxony. But there was also a kind of standing
army for readier use. The vassals of the emperor, namely, had
the enjoyment of estates on the condition of performing mili-
tary service, whenever commanded. And with a view to main-
tain these arrangements, commissioners (Missi) were sent out
by the emperor, to observe and report concerning the affairs of
the Empire, and to inquire into the state of judicial administra-
tion and inspect the royal estates.
Not less remarkable is the management of the revenues of the
state. There were no direct taxes, and few tolls on rivers and
roads, of which several were farmed out to the higher officers
of the empire. Into the treasury flowed on the one hand judicial
fines, on the other hand the pecuniary satisfactions made for
not serving in the army at the emperor's summons. Those who
enjoyed beneiicia, lost them on neglecting this duty. The chief
revenue was derived from the crown-lands, of which the em-
peror had a great number, on which royal palaces [Pfalzen]
were erected. It had been long the custom for the kings to
make progresses through the chief provinces, and to remain
for a time in each palatinate; the due preparations for the
maintenance of the court having been already made by Mar-
shals, Chamberlains, etc.
As regards the administration of justice, criminal causes
and those which concern real property were tried before the
communal assemblies under the presidency of a Count. Those
of less importance were decided by at least seven free men —
an elective bench of magistrates — under the presidency of the
Centgraves. The supreme jurisdiction belonged to the royal
tribunals, over which the king presided in his palace : to these
the feudatories, spiritual and temporal, were amenable. The
royal commissioners mentioned above gave especial attention
in their inquisitorial visits to the judicial administration, heard
all complaints, and punished injustice. A spiritual and a tem-
poral envoy had to go their circuit four times a year.
In Charlemagne's time the ecclesiastical body had already
acquired great weight. The bishops presided over great cathe-
dral establishments, with which were also connected seminaries
and scholastic institutions. For Charlemagne endeavored to
restore science, then almost extinct, by promoting the founda-
364 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
tion of schools in towns and villages. Pious souls believed that
they were doing a good work and earning salvation by mak-
ing presents to the church; in this way the most savage and
barbarous monarchs sought to atone for their crimes. Private
persons most commonly made their offerings in the form of a
bequest of their entire estate to religious houses, stipulating for
the enjoyment of the usufruct only for life or for a specified
time. But it often happened that on the death of a bishop or
abbot, the temporal magnates and their retainers invaded the
possessions of the clergy, and fed and feasted there till all was
consumed; for religion had not yet such an authority over
men's minds as to be able to bridle the rapacity of the powerful.
The clergy were obliged to appoint stewards and bailiffs to man-
age their estates ; besides this, guardians had charge of all their
secular concerns, led their men-at-arms into the field, and gradu-
ally obtained from the king territorial jurisdiction, when the
ecclesiastics had secured the privilege of being amenable only
to their own tribunals, and enjoyed immunity from the au-
thority of the royal officers of justice (the Counts). This in-
volved an important step in the change of political relations,
inasmuch as the ecclesiastical domains assumed more and more
the aspect of independent provinces enjoying a freedom sur-
passing anything to which those of secular princes had yet
made pretensions. Moreover the clergy contrived subsequently
to free themselves from the burdens of the state, and opened
the churches and monasteries as asylums — that is, inviolable
sanctuaries for all offenders. This institution was on the one
hand very beneficial as a protection in cases of violence and
oppression ; but it was perverted on the other hand into a means
of impunity for the grossest crimes. In Charlemagne's time,
the law could still demand from conventual authorities the sur-^
render of offenders. The bishops were tried by a judicial bench
consisting of bishops ; as vassals they were properly subject to
the royal tribunal. Afterwards the monastic establishments
sought to free themselves from episcopal jurisdiction also: and
thus they made themselves independent even of the church.
The bishops were chosen by the clergy and the religious com-
munities at large ; but as they were also vassals of the sover-
eign, their feudal dignity had to be conferred by him. The
contingency of a contest was avoided by the obligation to choose
a person approved of by the king.
THE GERMAN WORLD 365
The imperial tribunals were held in the palace where the em-
peror resided. The sovereign himself presided in them, and the
magnates of the imperial court constituted with him the su-
preme judicial body. The deliberations of the imperial coun-
cil on the affairs of the empire did not take place at appointed
times, but as occasions offered — at military reviews in the
spring, at ecclesiastical councils and on court-days. It was
especially these court-days, to which the feudal nobles were
invited — when the king held his court in a particular province,
generally on the Rhine, the centre of the Frank empire — that
gave occasion to the deliberations in question. Custom re-
quired the sovereign to assemble twice a year a select body of
the higher temporal and ecclesiastical functionaries, but here
also the king had decisive power. These conventions are there-
fore of a different character from the Imperial Diets of later
times, in which the nobles assume a more independent position.
Such was the state of the Frank Empire — that first consolida-
tion of Christianity into a political form proceeding from itself,
the Roman empire having been swallowed up by Christianity.
The constitution just described looks excellent; it introduced
a firm military organization and provided for the administration
of justice within the empire. Yet after Charlemagne's death it
proved itself utterly powerless — externally defenceless against
the invasions of the Normans, Hungarians, and Arabs, and in-
ternally inefficient in resisting lawlessness, spoliation, and op-
pression of every kind. Thus we see, side by side with an excel-
lent constitution, the most deplorable condition of things, and
therefore confusion in all directions. Such political edifices
need, for the very reason that they originate suddenly, the addi-
tional strengthening afforded by negativity evolved within them-
selves: they need reactions in every form, such as manifest
themselves in the following period,
SECTION II
THE MIDDLE AGES
WHILE the first period of the German World ends bril-
liantly with a mighty empire, the second is com-
menced by the reaction resulting from the antithesis
occasioned by that infinite falsehood which rules the destinies
of the Middle Ages and constitutes their life and spirit. This
reaction is first, that of the particular nationalities against the
universal sovereignty of the Frank empire — manifesting itself
in the splitting up of that great empire. The second reaction
is that of individuals against legal authority and the executive
power — against subordination, and the military and judicial
arrangements of the constitution. This produced the isolation
and therefore defencelessness of individuals. The universality
of the power of the state disappeared through this reaction : in-
dividuals sought protection with the powerful, and the latter
became oppressors. Thus was gradually introduced a condi-
tion of universal dependence, and this protecting relation is then
systematized into the Feudal System. The third reaction is
that of the church — the reaction of the spiritual element against
the existing order of things. Secular extravagances of passion
were repressed and kept in check by the Church, but the latter
was itself secularized in the process, and abandoned its proper
position. From that moment begins the introversion of the
secular principle. These relations and reactions all go to con-
stitute the history of the Middle Ages, and the culminating
point of this period is the Crusades; for with them arises a
universal instability, but one through which the states of Chris-
tendom first attain internal and external independence.
Chapter I. — The Feudality and the Hierarchy
The First Reaction is that of particular nationality against
the universal sovereignty of the Franks. It appears indeed, at
first sight, as if the Frank empire was divided by the mere choice
366
THE GERMAN WORLD 367
of its sovereigns ; but another consideration deserves attention,
vis. that this division was popular, and was accordingly main-
tained by the peoples. It was, therefore, not a mere dynastic
act — which might appear unwise, since the princes thereby
weakened their own power — but a restoration of those distinct
nationalities which had been held together by a connecting bond
of irresistible might and the genius of a great man. Louis the
Pious [le Debonnaire] son of Charlemagne, divided the empire
among his three sons. But subsequently, by a second marriage,
another son was born to him — Charles the Bald. As he wished
to give him also an inheritance, wars and contentions arose be-
tween Louis and his other sons, whose already received portion
would have to be diminished by such an arrangement. In the
first instance, therefore, a private interest was involved in the
contest; but that of the nations which composed the empire
made the issue not indifferent to them. The western Franks
had already identified themselves with the Gauls, and with
them originated a reaction against the German Franks, as also at
a later epoch one on the part of Italy against the Germans. By
the treaty of Verdun, a.d. 843, a division of the empire among
Charlemagne's descendants took place; the whole Frank em-
pire, some provinces excepted, was for a moment again united
under Charles the Gross. It was, however, only for a short
time that this weak prince was able to hold the vast empire to-
gether; it was broken up into many smaller sovereignties,
which developed and maintined an independent position. These
were the Kingdom of Italy, which was itself divided, the two
Burgundian sovereignties — Upper Burgundy, of which the
chief centres were Geneva and the convent of St. Maurice in
Valaise, and Lower Burgundy between the Jura, the Mediter-
ranean and the Rhone — Lorraine, between the Rhine and the
Meuse, Normandy, and Brittany. France Proper was shut in
between these sovereignties ; and thus limited did Hugh Capet
find it when he ascended the throne. Eastern Franconia, Sax-
ony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Swabia, remained parts of the German
Empire. Thus did the unity of the Frank monarchy fall to
pieces. The internal arrangements of the Frank empire also
suffered a gradual but total decay; and the first to disappear
was the military organization. Soon after Charlemagne we see
the Norsemen from various quarters making inroads into Eng-
land, France and Germany. In England seven dynasties of
368 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Anglo-Saxon Kings were originally established, but in the year
827 Egbert united these sovereignties into a single kingdom.
In the reign of his successor the Danes made very frequent in-
vasions and pillaged the country. In Alfred the Great's time
they met with vigorous resistance, but subsequently the Dan-
ish King Canute conquered all England. The inroads of the
Normans into France were contemporaneous with these events.
They sailed up the Seine and the Loire in light boats, plundered
the towns, pillaged the convents, and went off with their booty.
They beleaguered Paris itself, and the Carlovingian Kings were
reduced to the base necessity of purchasing a peace. In the
same way they devastated the towns lying on the Elbe; and
from the Rhine plundered Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and
made Lorraine tributary to them. The Diet of Worms, in 882,
did indeed issue a general proclamation, summoning all sub-
jects to rise in arms, but they were compelled to put up with a
disgraceful composition. These storms came from the north
and the west. The Eastern side of the empire suffered from the
inroads of the Magyars. These barbarian peoples traversed
the country in wagons, and laid waste the whole of Southern
Germany. Through Bavaria, Swabia, and Switzerland they
penetrated into the interior of France and reached Italy. The
Saracens pressed forward from the South. Sicily had been
long in their hands : they thence obtained a firm footing in
Italy, menaced Rome — which diverted their attack by a com-
position — and were the terror of Piedmont and Provence.
Thus these three peoples invaded the empire from all sides in
great masses, and in their desolating marches almost came into
contact with each other. France was devastated by the Nor-
mans as far as the Jura ; the Hungarians reached Switzerland,
and the Saracens Valaise. Calling to mind that organization
of the " arriere-ban," and considering it in juxtaposition with
this miserable state of things, we cannot fail to be struck with
the inefficiency of all those far-famed institutions, which at
such a juncture ought to have shown themselves most effec-
tive. We might be inclined to regard the picture of the noble
and rational constitution of the Frank monarchy under Charle-
magne — exhibiting itself as strong, comprehensive, and well
ordered, internally and externally — as a baseless figment. Yet
it actually existed; the entire political system being held to-
gether only by the power, the greatness, the regal soul of this
THE GERMAN WORLD 369
one man — not based on the spirit of the people — not having be-
come a vital element in it. It was superficially induced — an a
priori constitution like that which Napoleon gave to Spain, and
which disappeared with the physical power that sustained it.
That, on the contrary, which renders a constitution real, is that
it exists as Objective Freedom — the Substantial form of voli-
tion — as duty and obligation acknowledged by the subjects
themselves. But obligation was not yet recognized by the Ger-
man Spirit, which hitherto showed itself only as " Heart " and
subjective choice; for it there was as yet no subjectivity in-
volving unity, but only a subjectivity conditioned by a careless
superficial self-seeking. Thus that constitution was destitute
of any firm bond; it had no objective support in subjectivity;
for in fact no constitution was as yet possible.
This leads us to the Second Reaction — that of individuals
against the authority of law. The capacity of appreciating legal
order and the common weal is altogether absent, has no vital
existence in the peoples themselves. The duties of every free
citizen, the authority of the judge to give judicial decisions, that
of the count of a province to hold his court, and interest in the
laws as such, are no longer regarded as valid now that the
strong hand from above ceases to hold the reins of sovereignty.
The brilliant administration of Charlemagne had vanished
without leaving a trace, and the immediate consequence was
the general defencelessness of individuals. The need of pro-
tection is sure to be felt in some degree in every well-organized
state: each citizen knows his rights and also knows that for
the security of possession the social state is absolutely necessary.
Barbarians have not yet attained this sense of need — the want
of protection from others. They look upon it as a limitation of
their freedom if their rights must be guaranteed them by others.
Thus, therefore, the impulse towards a firm organization did
not exist : men must first be placed in a defenceless condition,
before they were sensible of the necessity of the organization of a
State. The political edifice had to be reconstructed from the
very foundations. The commonwealth as then organized had
no vitality or firmness at all either in itself or in the minds of
the people ; and its weakness manifested itself in the fact that
it was unable to give protection to its individual members. As
observed above, the idea of duty was not present in the Spirit of
the Germans ; it had to be restored. In the first instance voli-
37°
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
tion could only be arrested in its wayward career in reference to
the merely external point of possession; and to make it feel the
importance of the protection of the State, it had to be violently
dislodged from its obtuseness and impelled by necessity to seek
union and a social condition. Individuals were therefore
obliged to consult for themselves by taking refuge with Indi-
viduals, and submitted to the authority of certain powerful per-
sons, who constituted a private possession and personal sover-
eignty out of that authority which formerly belonged to the
Commonwealth. As officers of the State, the counts did not
meet with obedience from those committed to their charge, and
they were as little desirous of it. Only for themselves did they
covet it. They assumed to themselves the power of the State,
and made the authority with which they had been intrusted as
a beneficium, a heritable possession. As in earlier times the
King or other magnates conferred fiefs on their vassals by way
of rewards, now, conversely, the weaker and poorer surren-
dered their possessions to the strong, for the sake of gaining
efficient protection. They committed their estates to a Lord, a
Convent, an Abbot, a Bishop (feudum oblatum), and received
them back, encumbered with feudal obligations to these su-
periors. Instead of freemen they became vassals — feudal de-
pendants — and their possession a beneHcium. This is the con-
stitution of the Feudal System. " Feudum " is connected with
" tides " ; the fidelity implied in this case is a bond established
on unjust principles, a relation that does indeed contemplate a
legitimate object, but whose import is not a whit the less in-
justice; for the fidelity of vassals is not an obligation to the
Commonwealth, but a private one — ipso facto therefore subject
to the sway of chance, caprice, and violence. Universal injustice,
universal lawlessness is reduced to a system of dependence on
and obligation to individuals, so that the mere formal side of
the matter, the mere fact of compact constitutes its sole con-
nection with the principle of Right. — Since every man had to
protect himself, the martial spirit, which in point of external
defence seemed to have most ignominiously vanished, was re-
awakened ; for torpidity was roused to action partly by extreme
ill-usage, partly by the greed and ambition of individuals. The
valor that now manifested itself, was displayed not on behalf
of the State, but of private interests. In every district arose
castles; fortresses were erected, and that for the defence of
THE GERMAN WORLD 371
private property, and with a view to plunder the tyranny. In
the way just mentioned, the political totality was ignored at
those points where individual authority was established, among
which the seats of bishops and archbishops deserve especial
mention. The bishoprics had been freed from the jurisdiction
of the judicial tribunals, and from the operations of the execu-
tive generally. The bishops had stewards on whom at their
request the Emperors conferred the jurisdiction which the
Counts had formerly exercised. Thus there were detached
ecclesiastical domains — ecclesiastical . districts which belonged
to a saint (Germ. Weichbilder). Similar suzerainties of a
secular kind were subsequently constituted. Both occupied the
position of the previous Provinces [Gaue] or Counties [Graf-
schaften]. Only in a few towns where communities of free-
men were independently strong enough to secure protection and
safety, did relics of the ancient free constitution remain. With
these exceptions the free communities entirely disappeared, and
became subject to the prelates or to the Counts and Dukes,
thenceforth known as seigneurs and princes. The imperial
power was extolled in general terms, as something very great
and exalted : the Emperor passed for the secular head of entire
Christendom: but the more exalted the ideal dignity of the
emperors, the more limited was it in reality. France derived
extraordinary advantage from the fact that it entirely repudi-
ated this baseless assumption, while in Germany the advance of
political development was hindered by that pretence of power.
The kings and emperors were no longer chiefs of the state, but
of the princes, who were indeed their vassals, but possessed sov-
ereignty and territorial lordships of their own. The whole
social -condition therefore, being founded on individual sover-
eignty, it might be supposed that the advance to a State would
be possible only through the return of those individual sover-
eignties to an official relationship. But to accomplish this, a
superior power would have been required, such as was not in
existence; for the feudal lords themselves determined how far
they were still dependent on the general constitution of the
state. No authority of Law and Right is valid any longer;
nothing but chance power — the crude caprice of particular as
opposed to universally valid Right ; and this struggles against
equality of Rights and Laws. Inequality of political privileges
— the allotment being the work of the purest haphazard— is
Vol. 23 Q— Classics
372 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
the predominant feature. It is impossible that a Monarchy can
arise from such a social condition through the subjugation of
the several minor powers under the Chief of the State, as such.
Reversely, the former were gradually transformed into Prin-
cipalities [Furstenthumer], and became united with the Prin-
cipality of the Chief; thus enabling the authority of the king
and of the state to assert itself. While, therefore, the bond of
political unity was still wanting, the several seigneuries at-
tained their development independently.
In France the dynasty of Charlemagne, like that of Clovis,
became extinct through the weakness of the sovereigns who
represented it. Their dominion was finally limited to the petty
sovereignty of Laon; and the last of the Carlovingians, Duke
Charles of Lorraine, who laid claim to the crown after the death
of Louis V, was defeated and taken prisoner. The powerful
Hugh Capet, Duke of France, was proclaimed king. The title
of King, however, gave him no real power; his authority was
based on his territorial possessions alone. At a later date,
through purchase, marriage, and the dying out of families, the
kings became possessed of many feudal domains ; and their
authority was frequently invoked as a protection against the
oppressions of the nobles. The royal authority in France be-
came heritable at an early date, because the fiefs were heritable ;
though at first the kings took the precaution to have their sons
crowned during their lifetime. France was divided into many
sovereignties : the Duchy of Guienne, the Earldom of Flanders,
the Duchy of Gascony, the Earldom of Toulouse, the Duchy of
Burgundy, the Earldom of Vermandois ; Lorraine too had be-
longed to France for some time. Normandy had been ceded to
the Normans by the kings of France, in order to secure a tem-
porary repose from their incursions. From Normandy Duke
William passed over into England and conquered it in the year
1066. Here he introduced a fully developed feudal constitu-
tion — a network which, to a great extent, encompasses England
even at the present day. And thus the Dukes of Normandy
confronted the comparatively feeble Kings of France with a
power of no inconsiderable pretensions. — Germany was com-
posed of the great duchies of Saxony, Swabia, Bavaria, Carin-
thia, Lorraine and Burgundy, the Margraviate of Thuringia,
etc. with several bishoprics and archbishoprics. Each of those
duchies again was divided into several fiefs, enjoying more or
THE GERMAN WORLD
373
less independence. The emperor seems often to have united
several duchies under his immediate sovereignty. The Em-
peror Henry III was, when he ascended the throne, lord of
many large dukedoms ; but he weakened his own power by en-
feoffing them to others. Germany was radically a free nation,
and had not, as France had, any dominant family as a central
authority ; it continued an elective empire. Its princes refused
to surrender the privilege of choosing their sovereign for them-
selves ; and at every new election they introduced new restric-
tive conditions, so that the imperial power was degraded to an
empty shadow. — In Italy we find the same political condition.
The German Emperors had pretensions to it: but their au-
thority was valid only so far as they could support it by direct
force of arms, and as the Italian cities and nobles deemed their
own advantage to be promoted by submission. Italy was, like
Germany, divided into many larger and smaller dukedoms, earl-
doms, bishoprics and seigneuries., The Pope had very little
power, either in the North or in the South ; which latter was
long divided between the Lombards and the Greeks, until both
were overcome by the Normans. — Spain maintained a contest
with the Saracens, either defensive or victorious, through the
whole mediaeval period, till the latter finally succumbed to the
more matured power of Christian civilization.
Thus all Right vanished before individual Might ; for equal-
ity of Rights and rational legislation, where the interests of the
political Totality, of the State, are kept in view, had no ex-
istence.
The Third Reaction, noticed above, was that of the ele-
ment of Universality against the Real World as split up into
particularity. This reaction proceeded from below upwards —
from that condition of isolated possession itself ; and was then
promoted chiefly by the church. A sense of the nothingness of
its condition seized on the world as it were universally. In that
condition of utter isolation, where only the unsanctioned might
of individuals had any validity [where the State was non-ex-
istent,] men could find no repose, and Christendom was, so to
speak, agitated by the tremor of an evil conscience. In the
eleventh century, the fear of the approaching final judgment
and the belief in the speedy dissolution of the world, spread
through all Europe. This dismay of soul impelled men to the
most irrational proceedings. Some bestowed the whole of their
374 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
possessions on the Church, and passed their lives in continual
penance; the majority dissipated their worldly all in riotous
debauchery. The Church alone increased its riches by the hal-
lucinations, through donations and bequests. — About the same
time too, terrible famines swept away their victims: human
flesh was sold in open market. During this state of things,
lawlessness, brutal lust, the most barbarous caprice, deceit and
cunning, were the prevailing moral features. Italy, the centre
of Christendom, presented the most revolting aspect Every
virtue was alien to the times in question; consequently virtus
had lost its proper meaning : in common use it denoted only vio-
lence and oppression, sometimes even libidinous outrage. This
corrupt state of things affected the clergy equally with the laity.
Their own advowees had made themselves masters of the eccle-
siastical estates intrusted to their keeping, and lived on them
quite at their own pleasure, restricting the monks and clergy
to a scanty pittance. Monasteries that refused to accept ad-
vowees were compelled to do so ; the neighboring lords taking
the office upon themselves or giving it to their sons. Only bish-
ops and abbots maintained themselves in possession, being able
to protect themselves partly by their own power, partly by
means of their retainers ; since they were, for the most part, of
noble families.
The bishoprics being secular fiefs, their occupants were
bound to the performance of imperial and feudal service. The
investiture of the bishops belonged to the sovereigns, and it was
their interest that these ecclesiastics should be attached to them.
Whoever desired a bishopric, therefore, had to make application
to the king ; and thus a regular trade was carried on in bishop-
rics and abbacies. Usurers who had lent money to the sov-
ereign, received compensation by the bestowal of the dignities
in question; the worst of men thus came into possession of
spiritual offices. There could be no question that the clergy
ought to have been chosen by the religious community, and
there were always influential persons who had the right of
electing them; but the king compelled them to yield to his
orders. Nor did the Papal dignity fare any better. Through a
long course of years the Counts of Tusculum near Rome con-
ferred it on members of their own family, or on persons to
whom they had sold it for large sums of money. The state of
things became at last so intolerable, that laymen as well as eccle-
THE GERMAN WORLD 375
siastics of energetic character opposed its continuance. The
Emperor Henry III put an end to the strife of factions, by
nominating the Popes himself, and supporting them by his
authority in defiance of the opposition of the Roman nobility.
Pope Nicholas II decided that the Popes should be chosen by
the Cardinals; but as the latter partly belonged to dominant
families, similar contests of factions continued to accompany
their election. Gregory VII (already famous as Cardinal Hil-
debrand) sought to secure the independence of the church in
this frightful condition of things, by two measures especially.
First, he enforced the celibacy of the clergy. From the earliest
times, it must be observed, the opinion had prevailed that it was
commendable and desirable for the clergy to remain unmarried.
Yet the annalists and chroniclers inform us that this require-
ment was but indifferently complied with. Nicholas II had in-
deed pronounced the married clergy to be a new sect; but
Gregory VII proceeded to enforce the restriction with extraor-
dinary energy, excommunicating all the married clergy and all
laymen who should hear mass when they officiated. In this
way the ecclesiastical body was shut up within itself and ex-
cluded from the morality of the State. — His second measure
was directed against simony, i.e. the sale of or arbitrary ap-
pointment to bishoprics and to the Papal See itself. Ecclesias-
tical offices were thenceforth to be filled by the clergy, who were
capable of administering them ; an arrangement which neces-
sarily brought the ecclesiastical body into violent collision with
secular seigneurs.
These were the two grand measures by which Gregory pur-
posed to emancipate the Church from its condition of depen-
dence and exposure to secular violence. But Gregory made
still further demands on the secular power. The transference
of benefices to a new incumbent was to receive validity simply
in virtue of his ordination by his ecclesiastical superior, and
the Pope was to have exclusive control over the vast property
of the ecclesiastical community. The Church as a divinely con-
stituted power, laid claim to supremacy over secular authority
— founding that claim on the abstract principle that the Divine
is superior to the Secular. The Emperor at his coronation — a
ceremony which only the Pope could perform — was obliged
to promise upon oath that he would always be obedient to the
Pope and the Church. Whole countries and states, such as
376 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Naples, Portugal, England and Ireland came into a formal rela-
tion of vassalage to the Papal chair.
Thus the Church attained an independent position: the
Bishops convoked synods in the various countries, and in these
convocations the clergy found a permanent centre of unity and
support. In this way the Church attained the most influential
position in secular affairs. It arrogated to itself the award of
princely crowns, and assumed the part of mediator between
sovereign powers in war and peace. The contingencies which
particularly favored such interventions on the part of the
Church were the marriages of princes. It frequently happened
that princes wished to be divorced from their wives ; but for
such a step they needed the permission of the Church. The
latter did not let slip the opportunity of insisting upon the ful-
filment of demands that might have been otherwise urged in
vain, and thence advanced till it had obtained universal influ-
ence. In the chaotic state of the community generally, the inter-
vention of the authority of the Church was felt as a necessity.
By the introduction of the " Truce of God," feuds and private
revenge were suspended for at least certain days in the week,
or even for entire weeks ; and the Church maintained this
armistice by the use of all its ghostly appliances of excommu-
nication, interdict and other threats and penalties. The secular
possessions of the Church brought it however into a relation to
other secular princes and lords, which was alien to its proper
nature; it constituted a formidable secular power in contra-
position to them, and thus formed in the first instance a centre
of opposition against violence and arbitrary wrong. It with-
stood especially the attacks upon the ecclesiastical foundations
— the secular lordships of the Bishops ; and on occasion of
opposition on the part of vassals to the violence and caprice of
princes, the former had the support of the Pope. But in these
proceedings the Church brought to bear against opponents only
a force and arbitrary resolve of the same kind as their own, and
mixed up its secular interest with its interest as an ecclesiastical,
i.e. a divinely substantial power. Sovereigns and peoples were
by no means incapable of discriminating between the two, or of
recognizing the worldly aims that were apt to intrude as mo-
tives for ecclesiastical intervention. They therefore stood by
the Church as far as they deemed it their interest to do so;
otherwise they showed no great dread of excommunication or
THE GERMAN WORLD 377
other ghostly terrors. Italy was the country where the author-
ity of the Popes was least respected ; and the worst usage they
experienced was from the Romans themselves. Thus what the
Popes acquired in point of land and wealth and direct sover-
eignty, they lost in influence and consideration.
We have then to probe to its depths the spiritual element in
the Church — the form of its power. The essence of the Chris-
tian principle has already been unfolded ; it is the principle of
Mediation. Man realizes his Spiritual essence only when he
conquers the Natural that attaches to him. This conquest is
possible only on the supposition that the human and the divine
nature are essentially one, and that Man, so far as he is Spirit,
also possesses the essentiality and substantiality that belong
to the idea of Deity. The condition of the mediation in question
is the consciousness of this unity; and the intuition of this
unity was given to man in Christ. The object to be attained is
therefore, that man should lay hold on this consciousness, and
that it should be continually excited in him. This was the de-
sign of the Mass: in the Host Christ is set forth as actually,
present; the piece of bread consecrated by the priest is the
present God, subjected to human contemplation and ever and
anon offered up. One feature of this representation is correct,
inasmuch as the sacrifice of Christ is here regarded as an actual
and eternal transaction, Christ being not a mere sensuous and
single, but a completely universal, i.e. divine, individuum; but
on the other hand it involves the error of isolating the sensuous
phase; for the Host is adored even apart from its being par-
taken of by the faithful, and the presence of Chrust is not ex-
clusively limited mental vision and Spirit. Justly therefore did
the Lutheran Reformation make this dogma an especial object of
attack. Luther proclaimed the great doctrine that the Host had
spiritual value and Christ was received only on the condition
of faith in him ; apart from this, the Host, he affirmed, was a
mere external thing, possessed of no greater value than any
other thing. But the Catholic falls down before the Host ; and
thus the merely outward has sanctity ascribed to it. The Holy
as a mere thing has the character of externality ; thus it is ca-
pable of being taken possession of by another to my exclusion :
it may come into an alien hand, since the process of appropriat-
ing it is not one that takes place in Spirit, but is conditioned
by its quality as an external object [Dingheit]. The highest
378 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
of human blessings is in the hands of others. Here arises ipso
facto a separation between those who possess this blessing and
those who have to receive it from others — between the Clergy
and the Laity. The laity as such are alien to the Divine. This
is the absolute schism in which the Church in the Middle Ages
was involved : it arose from the recognition of the Holy as
something external. The clergy imposed certain conditions, to
which the laity must conform if they would be partakers of the
Holy. The entire development of doctrine, spiritual insight
and the knowledge of divine things, belonged exclusively to the
Church : it has to ordain, and the laity have simply to believe :
obedience is their duty — the obedience of faith, without insight
on their part. This position of things rendered faith a matter of
external legislation, and resulted in compulsion and the stake.
The generality of men are thus cut off from the Church ; and
on the same principle they are severed from the Holy in every
form. For on the same principle as that by which the clergy
are the medium between man on the one hand and God and
Christ on the other hand, the layman cannot directly apply
to the Divine Being in his prayers, but only through mediators
— human beings who conciliate God for him, the Dead, the Per-
fect — Saints. Thus originated the adoration of the Saints, and
with it that conglomerate of fables and falsities with which the
Saints and their biographies have been invested. In the East
the worship of images had early become popular, and after a
lengthened struggle had triumphantly established itself: — an
image, a picture, though sensuous, still appeals rather to the im-
agination ; but the coarser natures of the West desired something
more immediate as the object of their contemplation, and thus
arose the worship of relics. The consequence was a formal resur-
rection of the dead in the mediaeval period, every pious Chris-
tian wished to be in possession of such sacred earthly remains.
Among the Saints the chief object of adoration was the Virgin
Mary. She is certainly the beautiful concept of pure love — a
mother's love ; but Spirit and Thought stand higher than even
this ; and in the worship of this conception that of God in Spirit
was lost, and Christ himself was set aside. The element of
mediation between God and man was thus apprehended and
held as something external. Thus through the perversion of
the principle of Freedom, absolute Slavery became the estab-
lished law. The other aspects and relations of the spiritual life
THE GERMAN WORLD
379
of Europe during this period flow from this principle. Knowl-
edge, comprehension of religious doctrine, is something of
which Spirit is judged incapable; it is the exclusive possession
of a class, which has to determine the True. For man may not
presume to stand in a direct relation to God; so that, as we
said before, if he would apply to Him, he needs a mediator — a
Saint. This view imports the denial of the essential unity of the
Divine and Human; since man, as such, is declared incapable
of recognizing the Divine and of approaching thereto. And
while humanity is thus separated from the Supreme Good, no
change of heart, as such, is insisted upon — for this would
suppose that the unity of the Divine and the Human is to be
found in man himself — but the terrors of Hell are exhibited to
man in the most terrible colors, to induce him to escape from
them, not by moral amendment, but in virtue of something ex-
ternal — the " means of grace." These, however, are an ar-
canum to the laity ; another — the " Confessor," must furnish
him with them. The individual has to confess — is bound to ex-
pose all the particulars of his life and conduct to the view of
the Confessor — and then is informed what course he has to
pursue to attain spiritual safety. Thus the Church took the
place of Conscience: it put men in leading strings like children,
and told them that man could not be freed from the torments
which his sins had merited, by any amendment of his own moral
condition, but by outward actions, opera operata — actions
which were not the promptings of his own good-will, but per-
formed by command of the ministers of the church ; e.g. hear-
ing mass, doing penance, going through a certain number of
prayers, undertaking pilgrimages — actions which are unspirit-
ual, stupefy the soul, and which are not only mere external cere-
monies, but are such as can be even vicariously performed,
The supererogatory works ascribed to the saints, could be
purchased, and the spiritual advantage which they merited, se-
cured to the purchaser. Thus was produced an utter derange-
ment of all that is recognized as good and moral in the Chris-
tian Church : only external requirements are insisted upon, and
these can be complied with in a merely external way. A condi-
tion the very reverse of Freedom is intruded into the principle
of Freedom itself.
With this perversion is connected the absolute separation of
the spiritual from the secular principle generally. There are
3 8o PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
two Divine Kingdoms — the intellectual in the heart and cogni-
tive faculty, and the socially ethical whose element and sphere is
secular existence. It is science alone that can comprehend the
kingdom of God and the socially Moral world as one Idea, and
that recognizes the fact that the course of Time has witnessed
a process ever tending to the realization of this unity. But
Piety [or Religious Feeling] as such, has nothing to do with
the Secular: it may make its appearance in that sphere on a
mission of mercy, but this stops short of a strict socially ethical
connection with it — does not come up to the idea of Freedom.
Religious Feeling is extraneous to History, and has no History ;
for History is rather the Empire of Spirit recognizing itself in
its Subjective Freedom, as the economy of social morality
[sittliches Reich] in the State. In the Middle Ages that em-
bodying of the Divine in actual life was wanting; the antithesis
was not harmonized. Social morality was represented as
worthless, and that in its three most essential particulars.
One phase of social morality is that connected with Love —
with the emotions called forth in the marriage relation. It is
not proper to say that Celibacy is contrary to Nature, but that it
is adverse to Social Morality [Sittlichkeit]. Marriage was in-
deed reckoned by the Church among the Sacraments ; but not-
withstanding the position thus assigned it, it was degraded, in-
asmuch as celibacy was reckoned as the more holy state. A
second point of social morality is presented in Activity — the
workman has to perform for his subsistence. His dignity con-
sists in his depending entirely on his diligence, conduct, and
intelligence, for the supply of his wants. In direct contraven-
tion of this principle, Pauperism, laziness, inactivity, was re-
garded as nobler : and the Immoral thus received the stamp of
consecration. A third point of morality is, that obedience be
rendered to the Moral and Rational, as an obedience to laws
which I recognize as just ; that it be not that blind and uncon-
ditional compliance which does not know what it is doing, and
whose course of action is a mere groping about without clear
consciousness or intelligence. But it was exactly this latter kind
of obedience that passed for the most pleasing to God ; a doc-
trine that exalts the obedience of Slavery, imposed by the arbi-
trary will of the Church, above the true obedience of Freedom.
In this way the three tows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedi-
ence turned out tin? very opposite of what they assumed to be,
THE GERMAN WORLD 381
and in them all social morality was degraded. The Church
was no longer a spiritual power, but an ecclesiastical one ; and
the relation which the secular world sustained to it was unspirit-
ual, automatic, and destitute of independent insight and con-
viction. As the consequence of this, we see everywhere vice,
utter absence of respect for conscience, shamelessness, and a
distracted state of things, of which the entire history of the
period is the picture in detail.
According to the above, the Church of the Middle Ages
exhibits itself as a manifold S elf -contradiction. For Subjec-
tive Spirit, although testifying of the Absolute, is at the same
time limited and definitely existing Spirit, as Intelligence and
Will. Its limitation begins in its taking up this distinctive
position, and here consentaneously begins its contradictory and
self-alienated phase; for that intelligence and will are not
imbued with the Truth, which appears in relation to them as
something given [posited ab extra]. This externality of the
Absolute Object of comprehension affects the consciousness
thus: — that the Absolute Object presents itself as a merely
sensuous, external thing — common outward existence — and yet
claims to be Absolute: in the mediaeval view of things this
absolute demand is made upon Spirit. The second form of the
contradiction in question has to do with the relation which the
Church itself sustains. The true Spirit exists in man — is his
Spirit ; and the individual gives himself the certainty of this
identity with the Absolute, in worship — the Church sustaining
merely the relation of a teacher and directress of this worship.
But here, on the contrary, we have an ecclesiastical body, like
the Brahmins in India, in possession of the Truth — not indeed
by birth, but in virtue of knowledge, teaching and training —
yet with the proviso that this alone is not sufficient, an external
form, an unspiritual title being judged essential to actual pos-
session. This outward form is Ordination, whose nature is
such that the consecration imparted inheres essentially like
a sensuous quality in the individual, whatever be the character
of his soul — be he irreligious, immoral, or absolutely ignorant.
The third "kind of contradiction is the Church itself, in its
acquisition as an outward existence, of possessions and an enor-
mous property — a state of things which, since that Church
despises or professes to despise riches, is none other than a Lie.
And we found the State, during the mediaeval period, simi-
382 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
larly involved in contradictions. We spoke above of an imperial
rule, recognized as standing by the side of the Church and
constituting its secular arm. But the power thus acknowledged
is invalidated by the fact that the imperial dignity in question
is an empty title, not regarded by the Emperor himself or by
those who wish to make him the instrument of their ambitious
views, as conferring solid authority on its possessor; for pas-
sion and physical force assume an independent position, and
own no subjection to that merely abstract conception. But
secondly, the bond of union which holds the Mediaeval State
together, and which we call Fidelity, is left to the arbitrary
choice of men's disposition [Gemuth] which recognizes no ob-
jective duties. Consequently, this Fidelity is the most unfaith-
ful thing possible. German Honor in the Middle Ages has
become a proverb; but examined more closely as History ex-
hibits it we find it a veritable Punica fides or Grceca fides; for
the princes and vassals of the Emperor are true and honorable
only to their selfish aims, individual advantage and passions,
but utterly untrue to the Empire and the Emperor ; because in
" Fidelity " in the abstract, their subjective caprice receives a
sanction, and the State is not organized as a moral totality.
A third contradiction presents itself in the character of indi-
viduals, exhibiting, as they do on the one hand, piety — religious
devotion, the most beautiful in outward aspect, and springing
from the very depths of sincerity — and on the other hand a
barbarous deficiency in point of intelligence and will. We find
an acquaintance with abstract Truth, and yet the most uncult-
ured, the rudest ideas of the Secular and the Spiritual : a trucu-
lent delirium of passion and yet a Christian sanctity which
renounces all that is worldly, and devotes itself entirely to holi-
ness. So self-contradictory, so deceptive is this mediaeval pe-
riod ; and the polemical zeal with which its excellence is con-
tended for, is one of the absurdities of our times. Primitive
barbarism, rudeness of manners, and childish fancy are not
revolting ; they simply excite our pity. But the highest purity
of soul defiled by the most horrible barbarity; the Truth, of
which a knowledge has been acquired, degraded t6 a mere tool
by falsehood and self-seeking; that which is most irrational,
coarse and vile, established and strengthened by the religious
sentiment — this is the most disgusting and revolting spectacle
that was ever witnessed, and which only Philosophy can com-
THE GERMAN WORLD 383
prehend and so justify. For such an antithesis must arise in
man's consciousness of the Holy while this consciousness still
remains primitive and immediate ; and the profounder the truth
to which Spirit comes into an implicit relation — while it has not
yet become aware of its own presence in that profound truth —
so much the more alien is it to itself in this its unknown form :
but only as the result of this alienation does it attain its true
harmonization.
We have then contemplated the Church as the reaction of the
Spiritual against the secular life of the time ; but this reaction
is so conditioned, that it only subjects to itself that against
which it reacts — does not reform it. While the Spiritual, re-
pudiating its proper sphere of action, has been acquiring secular
power, a secular sovereignty has also consolidated itself and
attained a systematic development — the Feudal System. As
through their isolation, men are reduced to a dependence on
their individual power and might, every point in the world on
which a human being can maintain his ground becomes an
energetic one. While the Individual still remains destitute of
the defence of laws and is protected only by his own exertion,
life, activity and excitement everywhere manifest themselves.
As men are certain of eternal salvation through the instrumen-
tality of the Church, and to this end are bound to obey it only
in, its spiritual requirements, their ardor in the pursuit of
worldly enjoyment increases, on the other hand, in inverse pro-
portion to their fear of its producing any detriment to their
spiritual weal ; for the Church bestows indulgences, when re-
quired, for oppressive, violent and vicious actions of all kinds.
The period from the eleventh to the thirteenth century wit-
nessed the rise of an impulse which developed itself in various
forms. The inhabitants of various districts began to build
enormous churches — Cathedrals, erected to contain the whole
community. Architecture is always the first art, forming the
inorganic phase, the domiciliation of the divinity; not till this
is accomplished does Art attempt to exhibit to the worshippers
the divinity himself — the Objective. Maritime commerce was
carried on with vigor by the cities on the Italian, Spanish, and
Flemish coasts, and this stimulated the productive industry
of their citizens at home. The Sciences began in some degree
to revive : the Scholastic Philosophy was in its glory. Schools
for the study of law were founded at Bologna and other places,
384 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
as also for that of medicine. It is on the rise and growing im-
portance of the Towns, that all these creations depend as their
main condition; a favorite subject of historical treatment in
modern times. And the rise of such communities was greatly
desiderated. For the Towns, like the Church, present them-
selves as reactions against feudal violence — as the earliest le-
gally and regularly constituted power. Mention has already
been made of the fact that the possessors of power compelled
others to put themselves under their protection. Such centres
of safety were castles [Burgen], churches and monasteries,
round which were collected those who needed protection. These
now became burghers [Burger], and entered into a cliental
relation to the lords of such castles or to monastic bodies. Thus
a firmly established community was formed in many places.
Many cities and fortified places [Castelle] still existed in Italy,
in the South of France, and in Germany on the Rhine, which
dated their existence from the ancient Roman times, and which
originally possessed municipal rights, but subsequently lost
them under the rule of feudal governors [Vogte]. The citi-
zens, like their rural neighbors, had been reduced to vassalage.
The principle of free possession however began to develop
itself from the protective relation of feudal protection;
i.e. freedom originated in its direct contrary. The feudal lords
or great barons enjoyed, properly speaking, no free or absolute
possession, any more than their dependents ; they had unlimited
power over the latter, but at the same time they also were
vassals of princes higher and mightier than themselves, and
to whom they were under engagements — which, it must be
confessed, they did not fulfil except under compulsion. The
ancient Germans had known of none other than free possession ;
but this principle had been perverted into its complete opposite,
and now for the first time we behold the few feeble commence-
ments of a reviving sense of freedom. Individuals brought
into closer relation by the soil which they cultivated, formed
among themselves a kind of union, confederation, or conjuratio.
They agreed to be and to perform on their own behalf that
which they had previously been and performed in the service
of their feudal lord alone. Their first united undertaking was
the erection of a tower in which a bell was suspended : the
ringing of the bell was a signal for a general rendezvous, and
the object of the union thus appointed was the formation of a
THE GERMAN WORLD 385
kind of militia. This is followed by the institution of a munici-
pal government, consisting of magistrates, jurors, consuls, and
the establishment of a common treasury, the imposition of taxes f
tolls, etc. Trenches are dug and walls built for the common
defence, and the citizens are forbidden to erect fortresses for
themselves individually. In such a community, handicrafts, as
distinguished from agriculture, find their proper home. Artisans
necessarily soon attained a superior position to that of the tillers
of the ground, for the latter were forcibly driven to work ; the
former displayed activity really their own, and a corresponding
diligence and interest in the result of their labors. Formerly arti-
sans had been obliged to get permission from their liege lords
to sell their work, and thus earn something for themselves :
they were obliged to pay them a certain sum for this privilege
of market, besides contributing a portion of their gains to the
baronial exchequer. Those who had houses of their own were
obliged to pay a considerable quit-rent for them; on all that
was imported and exported, the nobility imposed large tolls, and
for the security afforded to travellers they exacted safe-conduct
money. When at a later date these communities became
stronger, all such feudal rights were purchased from the nobles,
or the cession of them compulsorily extorted : by degrees the
towns secured an independent jurisdiction and likewise freed
themselves from all taxes, tolls and rents. The burden which
continued the longest was the obligation the towns were under
to make provision for the Emperor and his whole retinue during
his stay within their precincts, as also for seigneurs of inferior
rank under the same circumstances. The trading class subse-
quently divided itself into guilds, to each of which were at-
tached particular rights and obligations. The factions to which
episcopal elections and other contingencies gave rise, very often
promoted the attainment by the towns of the rights above-men-
tioned. As it would not infrequently happen that two rival
bishops were elected to the same see, each one sought to draw
the citizens into his own interest, by granting them privileges
and freeing them from burdens. Subsequently arose many
feuds with the clergy, the bishops and abbots. In some towns
they maintained their position as lords of the municipality;
in others the citizens got the upper hand, and obtained their
freedom. Thrfe, e.g. Cologne threw off the yoke of its bishop ;
Mayence on the other hand remained subject. By degrees
3 86 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
cities grew to be independent republics: first and foremost in
Italy, then in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. They
soon come to occupy a peculiar position with respect to the
nobility. The latter united itself with the corporations of the
towns, and constituted as e.g. in Berne, a particular guild. It
soon assumed special powers in the corporations of the towns
and attained a dominant position ; but the citizens resisted
the usurpation and secured the government to themselves. The
rich citizens (populus crassus) now excluded the nobility from
power. But in the same way as the party of the nobility was
divided into factions — especially those of Ghibellines and
Guelfs, of which the former favored the Emperor, the latter the
Pope — that of the citizens also was rent in sunder by intestine
strife. The victorious faction was accustomed to exclude its
vanquished opponents from power. The patrician nobility
which supplanted the feudal aristocracy, deprived the common
people of all share in the conduct of the state, and thus proved
itself no less oppressive than the original noblesse. The history
of the cities presents us with a continual change of constitutions,
according as one party among the citizens or the other — this
faction or that, got the upper hand. Originally a select body
of citizens chose the magistrates ; but as in such elections the
victorious faction always had the greatest influence, no other
means of securing impartial functionaries was left, but the
election of foreigners to the office of judge and podesta. It also
frequently happened that the cities chose foreign princes as
supreme seigneurs, and intrusted them with the signoria. But
all of these arrangements were only of short continuance ; the
princes soon misused their sovereignty to promote their own
ambitious designs and to gratify their passions, and in a few
years were once more deprived of their supremacy. — Thus the
history of these cities presents on the one hand, in individual
characters marked by the most terrible or the most admirable
features, an astonishingly interesting picture ; on the other
hand it repels us by assuming, as it unavoidably does, the aspect
of mere chronicles. In contemplating the restless and ever-
varying impulses that agitate the very heart of these cities and
the continual struggles of factions, we are astonished to see
on the other side industry — commerce by land and sea — in the
highest degree prosperous. It is the same principle of lively
vigor, which, nourished by the internal excitement in question,
produces this phenomenon.
THE GERMAN WORLD 387
We have contemplated the Church, which extended its power
over all the sovereignties of the time, and the Cities, where
a social organization on a basis of Right was first resuscitated,
as powers reacting against the authority of princes and feudal
lords. Against these two rising powers, there followed a reac-
tionary movement of princely authority ; the Emperor now
enters on a struggle with the Pope and the cities. The Em-
peror is recognized as the apex of Christian, i.e. secular power,
the Pope on the other hand as that of Ecclesiastical power,
which had now however become as decidedly a secular domin-
ion. In theory, it was not disputed that the Roman Emperor
was the Head of Christendom — that he possessed the dominium
mundi — that since all Christian states belonged to the Roman
Empire, their princes owed him allegiance in all reasonable and
equitable requirements. However satisfied the emperors them-
selves might be of the validity of this claim, they had too much
good sense to attempt seriously to enforce it" but the empty
title of Roman Emperor was a sufficient inducement to them
to exert themselves to the utmost to acquire and maintain it
in Italy. The Othos especially cherished the idea of the con-
tinuation of the old Roman empire, and were ever and anon
summoning the German princes to join them in an expedition
to Rome with a view to coronation there; — an undertaking in
which they were often deserted by them and had to undergo
the shame of a retreat." Equal disappointment was experienced
by those Italians who hoped for deliverance at the hands of the
Emperor from the ochlocracy that domineered over the cities,
or from the violence of the feudal nobility in the country at
large. The Italian princes who had invoked the presence of
the Emperor and had promised him aid in asserting his claims,
drew back and left him in the lurch ; and those who had pre-
viously expected salvation for their country, then broke out
into bitter complaints that their beautiful country was devas-
tated by barbarians, their superior civilization trodden under
foot, and that right and liberty, deserted by the Emperor, must
also perish. Especially touching and deep are the lamentations
and reproaches which Dante addresses to the Emperors.
The second complication with Italy was that struggle which
contemporaneously with the former was sustained chiefly by
the great Swabians — the house of Hohenstaufen — and whose
object was to bring back the secular power of the Church, which
388 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
had become independent, to its original dependence on the state.
The Papal See was also a secular power and sovereignty, and
the Emperor asserted the superior prerogative of choosing the
Pope and investing. him with his secular sovereignty. It was
these rights of the State for which the Emperors contended.
But to that secular power which they withstood, they were at
the same time subject, in virtue of its spiritual pretensions:
thus the contest was an interminable contradiction. Contra-
dictory as the varying phases of the contest, in which recon-
ciliation was ever alternating with renewed hostilities, was also
the instrumentality employed in the struggle. For the power
with which the Emperors made head against their enemy — the
princes, their servants and subjects, were divided in their own
minds, inasmuch as they were bound by the strongest ties of
allegiance to the Emperor and to his enemy at one and the
same time. The chief interest of the princes lay in that very
assumption of independence in reference to the State, against
which on the part of the Papal See the Emperor was contend-
ing ; so that they were willing to stand by the Emperor in cases
where the empty dignity of the imperial crown was impugned,
or on some particular occasions — e.g. in a contest with the
cities — but abandoned him when he aimed at seriously assert-
ing his authority against the secular power of the clergy, or
against other princes.
As, on the one hand, the German emperors sought to realize
their title in Italy, so, on the other hand, Italy had its political
centre in Germany. The interests of the two countries were
thus linked together, and neither could gain political consolida-
tion within itself. In the brilliant period of the Hohenstaufen
dynasty, individuals of commanding character sustained the dig-
nity of the throne; sovereigns like Frederick Barbarossa, in
whom the imperial power manifested itself in its greatest majes-
ty, and who by his personal qualities succeeded in attaching the
subject princes to his interests. Yet brilliant as the history of the
Hohenstaufen dynasty may appear, and stirring as might have
been the contest with the Church, the former presents on the
whole nothing more than the tragedy of this house itself, and
the latter had no important result in the sphere of Spirit. The
cities were indeed compelled to acknowledge the imperial au-
thority, and their deputies swore to observe the decisions of
the Roncalian Diet ; but they kept their word no longer than
THE GERMAN WORLD 389
they were compelled to do so. Their sense of obligation de-
pended exclusively on the direct consciousness of a superior
power ready to enforce it. It is said that when the Emperor
Frederick I asked the deputies of the cities whether they had
not sworn to the conditions of peace, they answered : " Yes,
but not that we would observe them." The result was that
Frederick Tat the Peace of Constance (1183) was obliged to
concede to them a virtual independence ; although he appended
the stipulation, that in this concession their feudal obligations
to the German Empire were understood to be reserved. The
contest between the Emperors and the Popes regarding investi-
tures was settled at the close of 1122 by Henry V and Pope
Calixtus II on these terms: the Emperor was to invest with
the sceptre; the Pope with the ring and crosier; the chapter
were to elect the Bishops in the presence of the Emperor or of
imperial commissioners ; then the Emperor was to invest the
Bishop as a secular feudatory with the temporalia, while the
ecclesiastical investiture was reserved for the Pope. Thus the
protracted contest between the secular and spiritual powers was
at length set at rest.
Chapter II. — The Crusades
The Church gained the victory in the struggle referred to in
the previous chapter; and in this way secured as decided a
supremacy in Germany, as she did in the other states of Europe
by a calmer process. She made herself mistress of all the rela-
tions of life, and of science and art ; and she was the permanent
repository of spiritual treasures. Yet notwithstanding this full
and complete development of ecclesiastical life, we find a defi-
ciency and consequent craving manifesting itself in Christen-
dom, and which drove it out of itself. To understand this want,
we must revert to the nature of the Christian religion itself,
and particularly to that aspect of it by which it has a footing
in the Present in the consciousness of its votaries.
The objective doctrines of Christianity had been already so
firmly settled by the Councils of the Church, that neither the
mediaeval nor any other philosophy could develop them further,
except in the way of exalting them intellectually, so that they
might be satisfactory as presenting the form of Thought. And
one essential point in this doctrine was the recognition of the
Divine Nature as not in any sense an other-zvorld existence [ein
390 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Jenseits], but as in unity with Human Nature in the Present
and Actual. But this Presence is at the same time exclusively
Spiritual Presence. Christ as a particular human personality
has left the world ; his temporal existence is only a past one —
i.e., it exists only in mental conception. And since the Divine
existence on earth is essentially of a spiritual character, it can-
not appear in the form of a Dalai-Lama. The Pope, however
high his position as Head of Christendom and Vicar of Christ,
calls himself only the Servant of Servants. How then did the
Church realize Christ as a definite and present existence ? The
principal form of this realization was, as remarked above, the
Holy Supper, in the form it presented as the Mass : in this the
Life, Suffering, and Death of the actual Christ were verily pres-
ent, as an eternal and daily repeated sacrifice. Christ appears
as a definite and present existence in a sensuous form as the
Host, consecrated by the Priest ; so far all is satisfactory : that
is to say, it is the Church, the Spirit of Christ, that attains in
this ordinance direct and full assurance. But the most promi-
nent feature in this sacrament is, that the process by which
Deity is manifested, is conditioned by the limitations of partic-
ularity — that the Host, this Thing, is set up to be adored as
God. The Church then might have been able to content itself
with this sensuous presence of Deity; but when it is once
granted that God exists in external phenomenal presence, this
external manifestation immediately becomes infinitely varied ;
for the need of this presence is infinite. Thus innumerable
instances will occur in the experience of the Church, in which
Christ has appeared to one and another, in various places ; and
still more frequently his divine Mother, who as standing nearer
to humanity, is a second mediator between the Mediator and
man (the miracle-working images of the Virgin are in their
way Hosts, since they supply a benign and gracious presence
of God). In all places, therefore, there will occur manifesta-
tions of the Heavenly, in specially gracious appearances, the
stigmata of Christ's Passion, etc. ; and the Divine will be real-
ized in miracles as detached and isolated phenomena. In the
period in question the Church presents the aspect of a world
of miracle ; to the community of devout and pious persons
natural existence has utterly lost its stability and certainty:
rather, absolute certainty has turned against it, and the Divine
is not conceived of by Christendom under conditions of univer-
THE GERMAN WORLD 391
sality as the law and nature of Spirit, but reveals itself in iso-
lated and detached phenomena, in which the rational form of
existence is utterly perverted.
In this complete development of the Church, we may find
a deficiency: but what can be felt as a want by it? What
compels it, in this state of perfect satisfaction and enjoyment,
to wish for something else within the limits of its own prin-
ciples — without apostatizing from itself? Those miraculous
images, places, and times, are only isolated points, momentary
appearances — are not an embodiment of Deity, not of the high-
est and absolute kind. The Host, the supreme manifestation,
is to be found indeed in innumerable churches ; Christ is therein
transubstantiated to a present and particular existence: but
this itself is of a vague and general character ; it is not his actual
and very presence as particularized in Space. That presence
has passed away, as regards time; but as spatial and as con-
crete in space it has a mundane permanence in this particular
spot, this particular village, etc. It is then this mundane ex-
istence [in Palestine] which Christendom desiderates, which
it is resolved on attaining. Pilgrims in crowds had indeed been
able to enjoy it; but the approach to the hallowed localities
is in the hands of the Infidels, and it is a reproach to Christen-
dom that the Holy Places and the Sepulchre of Christ in par-
ticular are not in possession of the Church. In this feeling
Christendom was united ; consequently the Crusades were un-
dertaken, whose object was not the furtherance of any special
interests on the part of the several states that engaged in them,
but simply and solely the conquest of the Holy Land.
The West once more sallied forth in hostile array against
the East. As in the expedition of the Greeks against Troy, so
here the invading hosts were entirely composed of independent
feudal lords and knights ; though they were not united under
a real individuality, as were the Greeks under Agamemnon or
Alexander. Christendom, on the contrary, was engaged in an
undertaking whose object was the securing of the definite and
present existence [of Deity] — the real culmination of Individ-
uality. This object impelled the West against the East, and
this is the essential interest of the Crusades.
The first and immediate commencement of the Crusades
was made in the West itself. Many thousands of Jews were
massacred, and their property seized; and after this terrible
392 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
prelude Christendom began its march. The monk, Peter the
Hermit of Amiens, led the way with an immense troop of rab-
ble. This host passed in the greatest disorder through Hun-
gary, and robbed and plundered as they went; but their num-
bers dwindled away, and only a few reached Constantinople.
For rational considerations were out of the question ; the mass
of them believed that God would be their immediate guide and
protector. The most striking proof that enthusiasm almost
robbed the nations of Europe of their senses, is supplied by
the fact that at a later time troops of children rah away from
their parents, and went to Marseilles, there to take ship for
the Holy Land. Few reached it; the rest were sold by the
merchants to the Saracens as slaves.
At last, with much trouble and immense loss, more regular
armies attained the desired object; they beheld themselves
in possession of all the Holy Places of note — Bethlehem, Geth-
semane, Golgotha, and even the Holy Sepulchre. In the whole
expedition — in all the acts of the Christians — appeared that
enormous contrast (a feature characteristic of the age) — the
transition on the part of the Crusading host from the greatest
excesses and outrages to the profoundest contrition and hu-
miliation. Still dripping with the blood of the slaughtered in-
habitants of Jerusalem, the Christians fell down on their faces
at the tomb of the Redeemer, and directed their fervent suppli-
cations to him.
Thus did Christendom come into the possession of its highest
good. Jerusalem was made a kingdom, and the entire feudal
system was introduced there — a constitution which, in presence
of the Saracens, was certainly the worst that could be adopted.
Another crusade in the year 1204 resulted in the conquest of
Constantinople and the establishment of a Latin Empire there.
Christendom, therefore, had appeased its religious craving; it
could now veritably walk unobstructed in the footsteps of the
Saviour. Whole shiploads of earth were brought from the
Holy Land to Europe. Of Christ himself no corporeal relics
could be obtained, for he was arisen: the Sacred Handkerchief,
the Cross, and lastly the Sepulchre, were the most venerated
memorials. But in the Grave is found the real point of retro-
version; it is in the grave that all the vanity of the Sensuous
perishes. At the Holy Sepulchre the vanity of [the cherished]
opinion passes away [the fancies by which the substance of
THE GERMAN WORLD 393
truth has been obscured disappear] ; there all is seriousness.
In the negation of that definite and present embodiment — i.e.
of the Sensuous — it is that the turning-point in question is
found, and those words have an application : " Thou wouldst
not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." Christendom was
not to find its ultimatum of truth in the grave. At this sepul-
chre the Christian world received a second time the response
given to the disciples when they sought the body of the Lord
there: " Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not
here, but is risen." You must not look for the principle of your
religion in the Sensuous, in the grave among the dead, but in
the living Spirit in yourselves. We have seen how the vast
idea of the union of the Finite with the Infinite was perverted
to such a degree as that men looked for a definite embodiment
of the Infinite in a mere isolated outward object [the Host].
Christendom found the empty Sepulchre, but not the union of
the Secular and the Eternal ; and so it lost the Holy Land. It
was practically undeceived ; and the result which it brought
back with it was of a negative kind : viz., that the definite em-
bodiment which it was seeking, was to be looked for in Subjec-
tive Consciousness alone, and in no external object; that the
definite form in question, presenting the union of the Secular
with the Eternal, is the Spiritual self-cognizant independence
of the individual. Thus the world attains the conviction that
man must look within himself for that definite embodiment of
being which is of a divine nature : subjectivity thereby receives
absolute authorization, and claims to determine for itself the
relation [of all that exists] to the Divine.* This then was the
absolute result of the Crusades, and from them we may date
the commencement of self-reliance and spontaneous activity.
The West bade an eternal farewell to the East at the Holy
Sepulchre, and gained a comprehension of its own principle
of subjective infinite Freedom. Christendom never appeared
again on the scene of history as one body.
Crusades of another kind, bearing somewhat the character
of wars with a view to mere secular conquest, but which in-
volved a religious interest also, were the contests waged by
Spain against the Saracens in the peninsula itself. The Chris-
tians had been shut up in a corner by the Arabs; but they
* All human actions, projects, insti- jectivity — for absolute decision on their
tutions, etc., begin to be brought to the merits, instead of being referred to an
bar of " principle " — the sanctum of sub- extraneous authority.
S94
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
gained upon their adversaries in strength, because the Saracens
in Spain and Africa were engaged in war in various directions,
and were divided among themselves. The Spaniards, united
with Frank knights, undertook frequent expeditions against
the Saracens ; and in this collision of the Christians with the
chivalry of the East — with its freedom and perfect indepen-
dence of soul — the former became also partakers in this free-
dom. Spain gives us the fairest picture of the knighthood of
the Middle Ages, and its hero is the Cid. Several Crusades,
the records of which excite our unmixed loathing and detesta-
tion, were undertaken against the South of France also. There
an sesthetic culture had developed itself : the Troubadours had
introduced a freedom of manners similar to that which pre-
vailed under the Hohenstaufen Emperors in Germany; but
with this difference, that the former had in it something affected,
while the latter was of a more genuine kind. But as in Upper
Italy, so also in the South of France fanatical ideas of purity
had been introduced ; * a Crusade was therefore preached
against that country by Papal authority. St. Dominic entered
it with a vast host of invaders, who, in the most barbarous man-
ner, pillaged and murdered the innocent and the guilty indis-
criminately, and utterly laid waste the fair region which they
inhabited.
Through the Crusades the Church reached the completion
of its authority: it had achieved the perversion of religion
and of the divine Spirit ; it had distorted the principle of Chris-
tian Freedom to a wrongful and immoral slavery of men's
souls ; and in so doing, far from abolishing lawless caprice and
violence and supplanting them by a virtuous rule of its own,
it had even enlisted them in the service of ecclesiastical au-
thority. In the Crusades the Pope stood at the head of the
secular power: the Emperor appeared only in a subordinate
position, like the other princes, and was obliged to commit both
the initiative and the executive to the Pope, as the manifest
generalissimo of the expedition. We have already seen the
noble house of Hohenstaufen presenting the aspect of chival-
rous, dignified and cultivated opponents of the Papal power,
when Spirit [the moral and intellectual element in Christen-
dom] had given up the contest. We have seen how they were
* The term " Cathari " (Ka9apoi). Pur- The German vvnrd " Ketzer " = heretic if
ists, was one of the most general designa- by some derived from it.
tions of the dissident sects in question.
THE GERMAN WORLD 395
ultimately obliged to yield to the Church ; which, elastic enough
to sustain any attack, bore down all opposition and would not
move a step towards conciliation. The fall of the Church was
not to be effected by open violence ; it was from wkhin — by the
power of Spirit and by an influence that wrought its way up-
wards — that ruin threatened it. Respect for the Papacy could
not but be weakened by the very fact that the lofty aim of the
Crusades — the satisfaction expected from the enjoyment of
the sensuous Presence — was not attained. As little did the
Popes succeed in keeping possession of the Holy Land. Zeal
for the holy cause was exhausted among the princes of Europe.
Grieved to the heart by the defeat of the Christians, the Popes
again and again urged them to advance to the rescue; but
lamentations and entreaties were vain, and they could effect
nothing. Spirit, disappointed with regard to its craving for
the highest form of the sensuous presence of Deity, fell back
upon itself. A rupture, the first of its kind and profound as
it was novel, took place. From this time forward we witness
religious and intellectual movements in which Spirit — trans-
cending the repulsive and irrational existence by which it is
surrounded — either finds its sphere of exercise within itself,
and draws upon its own resources for satisfaction, or throws
its energies into an actual world of general and morally justi-
fied aims, which are therefore aims consonant with Freedom.
The efforts thus originated are now to be described : they were
the means by which Spirit was to be prepared to comprehend
the grand purpose of its Freedom in a form of greater purity
and moral elevation.
To this class of movements belongs in the first place the
establishment of monastic and chivalric orders, designed to
carry out those rules of life which the Church had distinctly
enjoined upon its members. That renunciation of property,
riches, pleasures, and free will, which the Church had desig-
nated as the highest of spiritual attainments, was to be a reality
. — not a mere profession. The existing monastic and other in-
stitutions that had adopted this vow of renunciation, had been
entirely sunk in the corruption of worldliness. But now Spirit
sought to realize in the sphere of the principle of negativity —
purely in itself — what the Church had demanded. The more
immediate occasion of this movement was the rise of numerous
heresies in the South of France and Italy, whose tendency was
Vol. 23 R— Classics
396 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
in the direction of enthusiasm; and the unbelief which was
now gaining ground, but which the Church justly deemed not
so dangerous as those heresies. To counteract these evils, new
monastic orders were founded, the chief of which was that of
the Franciscans, or Mendicant Friars, whose founder, St. Fran-
cis of Ass-isi — a man possessed by an enthusiasm and ecstatic
passion that passed all bounds — spent his life in continually
striving for the loftiest purity. He gave an impulse of the
same kind to his order; the greatest fervor of devotion, the
sacrifice of all pleasures in contravention of the prevailing
worldliness of the Church, continual penances, the severest
poverty (the Franciscans lived on daily alms) — were therefore
peculiarly characteristic of it. Contemporaneously with it
arose the Dominican order, founded by St. Dominic ; its special
business was preaching. The mendicant friars were diffused
through Christendom to an incredible extent; they were, on
the one hand, the standing apostolic army of the Pope, while,
on the other hand, they strongly protested against his worldli-
ness. The Franciscans were powerful allies of Louis of Ba-
varia in his resistance of the Papal assumptions, and they are
said to have been the authors of the position, that a General
Council was higher authority than the Pope ; but subsequently
they too sank down into a torpid and unintelligent condition.
In the same way the ecclesiastical Orders of Knighthood con-
templated the attainment of purity of Spirit. We have already
called attention to the peculiar chivalric spirit which had been
developed in Spain through the struggle with the Saracens : the
same spirit was diffused as the result of the Crusades through
the whole of Europe. . The ferocity and savage valor that char-
acterized the predatory life of the barbarians — pacified and
brought to a settled state by possession, and restrained by the
presence of equals — was elevated by religion and then kindled
to a noble enthusiasm through contemplating the boundless
magnanimity of Oriental prowess. For Christianity also con-
tains the element of boundless abstraction and freedom ; the
Oriental chivalric spirit found therefore in Occidental hearts
a response, which paved the way for their attaining a nobler
virtue than they had previously known. Ecclesiastical orders
of knighthood were instituted on a basis resembling that of
the monastic fraternities. The same conventual vow of renun-
ciation was imposed on their members — the giving up of all
THE GERMAN WORLD 397
that was worldly. But at the same time they undertook the
defence of the pilgrims : their first duty therefore was knightly
bravery; ultimately, they were also pledged to the sustenance
and care of the poor and the sick. The Orders of Knighthood
were divided into three: that of St. John, that of the Temple,
and the Teutonic Order. These associations are essentially
distinguished from the self-seeking principle of feudalism.
Their members sacrificed themselves with almost suicidal bra-
very for a common interest. Thus these Orders transcended
the circle of their immediate environment, and formed a net-
work of fraternal coalition over the whole of Europe. But their
members sank down to the level of vulgar interests, and the
Orders became in the sequel a provisional institute for the no-
bility generally, rather than anything else. The Order of the
Temple was even accused of forming a religion of its own, and
of having renounced Christ in the creed which, under the influ-
ence of the Oriental Spirit, it had adopted.
A second impulsion, having a similar origin, was that in the
direction of Science. The development of Thought — the ab-
stractly Universal— now had its commencement. Those fra-
ternal associations themselves, having a common object, in
whose service their members were enlisted, point to the fact
that a general principle was beginning to be recognized, and
which gradually became conscious of its power. Thought was
first directed to Theology, which now became Philosophy under
the name of Scholastic Divinity. For philosophy and theology
have the Divine as their common object ; and although the the-
ology of the Church was a stereotyped dogma, the impulse now
arose to justify this body of doctrine in the view of Thought.
" When we have arrived at Faith," says the celebrated scholas-
tic, Anselm, " it is a piece of negligence to stop short of convinc-
ing ourselves, by the aid of Thought, of that to which we have
given credence." But thus conditioned Thought was not free,
for its material was already posited ab extra; it was to the
proof of this material that philosophy devoted its energies. But
Thought suggested a variety of questions, the complete answer
to which was not given directly in the symbols of the Church ;
and since the Church had not decided respecting them, they
were legitimate subjects of controversy. Philosophy was in-
deed called an ancilla Udei, for it was in subjection to that mate-
rial of the Church's creed, which had been already definitely
398 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
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